The Plague
by JeffC FTW
Summary: Strange diseases. Missing corpses connected to a past civil war in one town and another consumed with superstition in the present. A soldier's widow and her young son join a medical professor and his former protégé to solve the mystery of a small village's epidemic.
1. Funeral Parade of Roses

**Long story short, these are modern times instead of nin-verse. Hanaru is mourning the death of her husband and having to raise their son alone. Their brothers, friends and relatives also mourn. But that's not the half of it: some time passes before the REAL trouble begins.**

 **Not gonna spoil just yet, for once, but this is inspired by a Hammer film from 1966 that just HAPPENED to call me to bring this to life. I originally wanted a simple oneshot where Hanaru spiritually ends up with hubby that night. ;D There also was Sasuke suffering PTSD as a result of not saving his brother, but it's a subject that needs careful treads. Therefore I came up with something better and easier to deal with - hopefully.**

 **I hope I didn't offend anyone in terms of the subject of PTSD. It isn't my intention.**

 **Disclaimer: I own only Hanaru and Ren, her and Itachi's son. Nor do I own another movie this is based from, and this first chapter is named after a Japanese drama from the late 60s (which is inspired by Oedipus Rex).**

Chapter One

Funeral Parade of Roses

When she saw his name listed amongst the dead, she broke down uncontrollably and let herself be taken into the hold of her brother-in-law who had gotten back alive and well from Ame, a country wracked with civil war. He was one of the finest to be sent out there; he was a hero recognized more than even his younger brother was.

Now he was gone, and it was so hard to believe. He seemed almost untouchable...but when your number was up, then your number was up.

Hinata, her sister-in-law and best friend through her brother, was wiping her eyes with her tissue she drew from her purse. Their children were at school, so they wouldn't be able to see their fathers come home at noon until they got out - though Naruto wasn't with them because he was out of town cutting a deal, and Sakura was loaded with patients for the day - but one would find out his father was never coming home. She wasn't sure she would be able to hold herself up with knowing how their son would take it. _And Sarada is going to miss the uncle who loved spoiling her just like her aunt did._

Sasuke didn't look like he was taking it better than any of them. Guilt was in his eyes. "I feel I should have been in his place instead," he mumbled when they were in Hinata's car; he was in the front passenger and Hanaru was in the back. Hinata just looked at him from the corner of her eye as she was behind the wheel, getting them through the rain in the middle of November.

Hinata jerked her head in his direction. "Sasuke, why would you say such a thing?"

"Because I saw it happen: he got shot in the arm, but before that, he collapsed. I saw the signs, but he refused to rest because we all had orders that couldn't be broken." He spoke hoarsely.

Her husband's body was still in custody, but she was yet to be contacted to be told the news of the autopsy, and when they did, she wanted to know everything just because the widow deserved to know.

It was thinking about him alone that she finally lowered her face and felt her world collapse. The man she loved was gone. Their boy was going to take this perhaps worse than she would. She knew how she would have to handle the pain after the funeral was over, even making the arrangements, but Ren was going to need so much more than his mother's yoga class which helped many cope with loss and get through life with a fresh perspective.

 _Kabuto was over there with them. He must have tried to convince Itachi, too, but we know how he is._

Hinata bit her lip, not knowing what to say because she refused to let it be the wrong thing. Finally she said she was going to bring them at her house for the day, but then she offered to go and pick the children up from school herself - well, Boruto and Sarada from the daycare center because they were four years old, and Ren was in grade school.

Looking out the window, Hanaru saw the rain washing over the window panes, reminding her of the day she first met Itachi...and fingering the thing around her neck which brought them together.

~o~

 _Last year of college, here she was for the weekend with her brother and Hinata, and they were visiting Ame which was a good tourist attraction despite its difficult times. Just like in the Caribbean which fought for its freedom from foreigners and resorted to any means to survive._

 _She hadn't had much of any real friends, nor did she ever have a boyfriend, but she wasn't asocial by any means. She loved to learn, loved to educate herself and did the job with her brother who was the goofball. But for the lack of real friends, it was made up in the form of her brother and his - as well as the one who eventually became his girlfriend. All of them knew each other all their lives._

 _Though she had a mixed bag about Sasuke Uchiha, though she tried to be friendly and patient with him, sometimes wanting to punch his ass out the gutter; that job Sakura could do for her._

 _"Have fun, sister, and we'll meet back here after we get something!" Naruto told her happily when they were in a large tent that miraculously held its ground when this rainstorm had all but been blowing more of the tourists out of this small town. Laughing, Hanaru patted him on the head like she still did since they were kids, making him scowl and turn red. But Hinata simply pecked him and pulled him away, calling over her shoulder to have fun._

 _There was just so much to look at: prized vases._ Shoji _lamps of different kinds. Antique furniture pieces._

 _But then she found herself seeing something - no,_ someone _\- completely different and maybe much better. Gray raincoat and dark pants, somber and proper. He was across from her, looking at a delicate, hand-held, exquisite ivory carving of some kind of nude Shinto goddess who lay across and pulled a knee up to her chest, but her breasts were visible. His eyes, pitch black as his hair which was in a ponytail hanging low, were shining when they took his new prize in. Thin lips pulled into a soft smile. His skin was as white as the statue in his hold, marred by slanted lines beneath his eyes._

 _Somehow looking at him...no, she didn't come here for a sexy man. She didn't even know how to approach him without making a fool out of herself. She came for something else - and that opportunity presented itself when the auction happened while her brother and best friend were all but done and had just what they needed._

 _The item was a gorgeous, rare find having come from Iwa, a land of earth and mining long hidden treasures: a genuine crystal quartz of pure white wrapped in wire of sterling silver, raw and measured to be three and a half inches. Hanaru was certain her eyes were on fire as she felt her heart sing since she wanted to use something like this for herself, because of the use of crystals for the following._

 _Meditating. Balancing of the chakra life energy. Simple protection. Healing and getting rid of bad energies._

 _What was just as amazing was the fact there was meaning behind the known rainbow colors that flashed within as if it were a mined opal rather than what it was: the blue for faith, peace and honor; pink for new love, romance and pain release; finally, red which was obvious enough._

 _And the first person to speak before the spokesman was done talking offered a bid of ten dollars. She jerked her head to her left, seeing who had said the first bid prematurely - and it was the man who caught her eye earlier. His voice - it was so soft to the senses if so deep to the ears. Like velvet._

 _Hanaru had a plan: to get that necklace and see if that one could get on her tail. She wanted a guy in her life, but a pretty face wouldn't be enough. Looks were always deceiving, but if he was someone like her, then hell yes she would find him a great catch._

 _Her bid was thirty, going too high for him._

 _Next bid was forty, and of course it was Mr. Handsome again._

 _"Fifty," she finished loudly. "Five-o." He looked stunned that he'd been bested by none other than a WOMAN._

 _"Fifty going once, going twice...sold!" the spokesman answered. "To the pretty lady in the red-and-black crisscross sweater."_

 _She grinned as she gave her money and went to collect the prize - with the other one keeping an intense gaze on her as he seemed hellbent on hunting for something else if he couldn't have the other._

~o~

Hanaru Uchiha was Hanaru Uzumaki back when they met, and she was a student at the community college, on a scholarship for gymnastics, having a brilliant mind for anything but technicalities. She relied on her instinct rather than the parts that stressed you out and involved majority opinion ruled.

That day she won the crystal which rested around her neck to this day, had been such a wonderful good luck charm through thick and thin - that was the day she met the man who became her husband and father of their child. Itachi Uchiha. The eldest son of a respectable family, had been in the Army since age eighteen and was three years her senior.

Her? A simple gymnast and eventual yoga instructor, but he didn't mind at all. In fact, he was amazed when she demonstrated one move as they left the tent, when the rain had stopped pouring.

Of course he tried to talk her into giving the charm to him, but she wouldn't let him have it as far as she was concerned, soldier boy or not. He was muscle mass, but here she was with the same weapon - but brain over brawn, as they all say. So it was casual talk about each other, away from her brother and best friend who were off enjoying themselves at a food stand at the moment. _Just you and me, sex on legs._ And that was exactly what he was - and was he thinking the same when she stood on her hands before him, legs extended into the air? Bared for his eyes but covering what was between them - and she happened to remember she wasn't wearing panties at the moment, making her blush with sheer embarrassment - was her black skirt when it slid down her skin.

Maybe that started his attraction towards her. She was too embarrassed to ask him.

It eventually blossomed maybe a couple weeks later when he came to HER yoga studio, needing to relieve some tension he had since coming back from his last deport across seas in Kiri, and he was due back in four more months...and that also meant he wanted to spend his time here out of anywhere else.

During those four months, their relationship took the next step when they hadn't gone on a date besides being good friends in the beginning - and boy, was that a hell of a first time!

It was right after a dinner party - if you could call it that - with both their brothers, Itachi and Sasuke both in army uniform along with a few more of their buddies, and it turned into a drinking match that she had to stay out of because she'd seen what they did to people. There were many things in life she enjoyed, but this wasn't one of them...especially if it could sometimes lead to a couple getting it on under the influence, and they could end up regretting it the next day.

Intoxication for your first time _never_ ended well.

They ended up right back at his barracks, in the room he shared none other with his cousin Shisui who was out with a floozy for the night, and that meant unlimited access with the door locked and the blue silk sheets he surprised her with when she didn't expect it. The drive was on, and as soon as the engine roared to life, it was getting naked and getting busy. And that also meant condoms were on hand; he came all prepared for this and never bothered pressuring her until now.

And by God, was Itachi such a man - no, correction, he was a man and a god in one. Broad, powerful shoulders, slim waist and trimmed hips, toned legs, sculpted arms and chest, and his manhood large in a measurement of eight inches against a miniature nest of pubic hair. Big boy throbbed when her eyes rested on it, causing herself to throb. When Itachi looked at her down there, after gazing upon her melon-sized breasts peaked with ripe raspberry, right now at the honey-colored triangle between her legs, she flushed like an inferno, but he chuckled and slid that condom on with ease, groaning at the pressure as he fastened the rubber over the mushroomed head. The sound made her nerve bundles twitch, leaking more juice out of her "world-class" womanhood - and that phrase made her grit her teeth when he made the note.

"That's only what some of the guys have said behind your back, baby," he drawled, leaning down and nuzzling his nose against hers. Relaxing, she laughed with him. As long as he didn't offend her himself, then she accepted it.

On second thought: he got to know the meaning of world-class when he sank deep into her and claimed her for his own, pain at first turning into pleasure and making her scream so loud the concrete walls could have cracked. He rocked her back and forth, up and down, with him, riding them both to an orgasm that came far sooner than intended but still felt _so good._ This god of a man - she knew how to pick him the very first time she saw him!

Blue satin, in his room at the barracks. This was something that had to be...too good to be true, right?

"Itachi," she rasped when it was all over and they rested in each other's arms, "if we end up together, then this is the most romantic day of my whole life. And if we don't..." She giggled nervously. "...then I'm a complete slut." Her language caused him to raise an eyebrow, placing a kiss atop her head.

"Is this the story we're going to tell our grandchildren?"

That was a far better answer - or question in an answer - than she would have expected. And sparked round two and another condom...and as soon as she found out who started the rumor about her having world-class, they got more than a bloody nose and blue balls. Mizuki got what came to him.

It was also that day she finally met Kabuto Yakushi, who was the barracks' medic and would be deported where they'd go. He was such a nice guy, another best friend of Itachi's, and he apologized for the behavior of Mizuki when he was present as the big talk started.

That also meant that now that she and Itachi were an item, she was off-limits.

He had to go again, and she was scared for his life as the year went by, but a phone call or typed email would be managed as often as he could spare, and if he wasn't available, Kabuto or Shisui were kind enough to fill in as well as give their sides of the stories. Sasuke - she wasn't exactly best friends unlike her brother was with him. Though he wasn't a bad guy, and his attitude seemed to lessen as the boys got older. She liked to think it was due to his loving girlfriend, Sakura.

All of them attended the wedding which took place just before he was shipped off again, and by a few months in the summer on the beach of Konoha.

Itachi proposed to her over a quiet dinner, where it was just the two of them at the apartment she shared with Naruto and Hinata - yes, it was big for three people - and without even a stutter! The thing was small but still managed to sparkle with more fire than a regular diamond. The stone was cut into an asscher, flanked with pear-shaped blue sapphires, and set in platinum.

She had never been so happy, and when the big day came - having their brothers and friends be present being all they needed - it seemed like things would keep working out. Especially when she found out she was pregnant a few months into his deployment, but sadly he wasn't present. Although he got the homemade DVD footage to make up for it, and when he got back home, their son was nine months old.

Kabuto's younger sister was a midwife at Konoha Hospital, and Hanaru had known her since college. They were tight almost like sisters, like her and Hinata. Manami delivered Ren, before had been at the wedding with her brother, and she'd watched Ren grow up...until one day she said she was getting married and was going to leave the hospital as well as Konoha.

Hanaru had no idea how this happened, but she never once met the guy and demanded that, but Manami insisted that he was a good man who valued his privacy. She said she met him while she was called to the frontlines with her brother - because she also had enough medicinal experience - and from what Kabuto told her, he didn't approve of the man either.

All her friend said was that he was the one for her, that she'd never known anyone like him, and she really needed the support of her brother and her friends. Hanaru was there, and that was when she met the man for the first time, but the focus was mainly on the bride who was silvery and sparkling modestly in her sheer, illusion dress.

Her husband was handsome, indeed, and he seemed like he would be a good one for Manami, except Kabuto continued to be suspicious of him despite understanding he couldn't do anything about it.

Even Itachi had his qualms, as he was also there and said that money and love didn't always go well together. And he'd met the man while overseas, agreeing with Kabuto and not just because that was his friend.

The wedding was the last time Hanaru saw Manami - just before she would see Itachi one last time. It was this time their son was only six years old. A year would go by before they got the news.

That day in the present was cloudy and with the sun occasionally peeking out; beneath was a parade of red and white, making a tribute of love and endurance, consisting of roses and lilies as well as orchids, as the final memorial was pulled through the streets, with Itachi's face in the frame and his loved ones behind it.

Manami and her husband came to the funeral, and so did Kabuto. All their friends and relatives were present, except the parents who were all dead. Naruto and a tearful Hinata were right behind her, their little boy Boruto between them, and behind them were Sasuke - who had a crying and sleepy Sarada in his arms - with Sakura and her puffy red eyes.

Her brother-in-law wasn't showing it on his face, but the guilt was there. And her brother always wore his own emotions on his sleeve - when he was younger, of course, but the man he was now trained to not bawl like a child.

That left Ren, their son, who was wiping his nose and eyes with his sleeve, and his mother had to remind him - through her own sobs - to use a tissue, and she had those in her purse.

At the back was someone who had his eye on her and her son, someone she knew well as her late husband - whose portrait was at the end of the procession of the dead, having no coffin because there had been no body to bring home.

 _Why did he vanish before he could be brought home?_

 **The flashbacks with Itachi and Hanaru were inspired by the couple in the movie The War of the Roses (Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner) early on in the birth of their marriage before it would eventually descend.**

 **Manami is a new minor OC of mine, and important of course. :) Her husband is the same, but renamed and based off the major villain of the unnamed-for-now movie. His identity and everything else will be revealed later. Suspense. ;)**

 **More on grieving Hanaru and Ren in the next chapter. Reviews appreciated (more detail, too) in the meantime. :'(**


	2. Feverish

Chapter Two

Feverish

Guilt gnawed at his bones every day. He was a doctor; he saved lives, lost some occasionally, but he always felt the same, and it was worse now that his best friend was gone. He'd been shot in the arm, though he might have fallen before the shot sounded. It was chaos, so there was confusion.

Before he could even perform the autopsy, the body vanished without a trace, baffling him and everyone else. Not before he had the signs written down that happened to be the beginning of a possible epidemic that wasn't obvious at the time - until the others started turning up dead.

 _Lethargy._

 _Loss of appetite._

 _Loss of skin color._

But of course it would look like the beginning stages of fever caught out here in a rain-wrought country; it was like Itachi to persevere and keep fighting no matter the odds. It wasn't the first time...but this would be the last.

He would never get conclusive evidence if it might have been a heart attack or something, which was rare in a healthy young male or female anytime. Which worsened his anger and frustration behind closed doors that his own sister had only done so much to comfort him over. He denied the assurances of his brother-in-law whom he tolerated for Manami's sake.

Why did she have to marry that man? What did she see in him that he and their friends didn't? He thought it was the strangest thing ever, even telling him that her man traveled and that she always wanted to do that, not that she never told her brother her dreams. He went where Itachi's unit would go, but it was nothing leisure, and he seldom had time for that in his life. Not even to find the girl who accepted him for who he was and settle down.

Their guardian wondered the questions he did, but ultimately said Manami was a grown woman who could make mistakes and just come to them if something went wrong. Kabuto had no choice but to agree.

That lavish yellow diamond ring - it was enough to make his beloved little sister fall for him, because no one had ever done this for her. It was indeed eye candy, though Kabuto Yakushi wasn't won over by these things, and that something could come from the heart alone and not from the wallet - just like Itachi did for his woman.

Baby sister was beautiful and glowing happy, though while her husband was smiling with pride, his eyes told another story. Kabuto could never know a moment's peace in his still-young adult life. It sucked beyond words.

His overprotective brother instincts weren't the major problem lately, but being out in Ame, soaked in rain constantly and dealing with the dead and dying, the maimed and near perfect with just bullets in certain parts, surgeries that required more than one person - it was hell every day. This was his second war to go out to. This battlefield was worse than the last in Kiri across the sea, years ago during Itachi's "college" years.

Now he wasn't sure he wanted to go out there again, not after what happened to Itachi, so he decided to retire early with what he'd made, and thought about moving back to Konoha since he still had friends there. Even if his sister wasn't home anymore, but elsewhere. She and her husband were on the move, but thinking about settling down someplace small, and then she'd let him know where that would be.

Kabuto didn't think too much about that at the time, but it was logical enough, since he would do the same.

Sasuke was broken at the death of his brother, but he had a girlfriend and young daughter who waited for him, and they would share his pain. But how would he, their friend and doctor, break the news to Itachi's wife?

Hanaru's devastation cut his heart into shreds, but their young son's reaction was just as worse; both of them had been looking forward to him coming home for good someday.

Her brother and his family held onto each other as well as with her. His loss was celebrated and mourned along with many others from Konoha who died in defense.

Responsible for Kabuto Yakushi's lack of sleep was the fact he never got to find out what happened to his friend if not a gunshot wound. What if it wasn't just a fever? A doctor had to be thorough and not single-minded, that was what his adoptive father always drilled into him. The eccentric man was always right, never seemed to miss a thing.

His best friend's widow no doubt wanted to know, but didn't blame him for the body disappearing and no one would ever find it. Damn it, who could do such a thing?! _Bodies don't get up and walk on their own..._

Little did he know, for now.

The day of the funeral was cloudy and sunny at the same time. Flowers were red roses, white lilies and orchids - love and remembrance. And while the other dead in the parade were in their coffins as well as their framed photos, only Itachi's at the end was solo without a corpse to lay in the ground. Flutes, somber drums and mantras were sung, and throughout it all, he had his attention on the woman who insisted to her son that he use Kleenex instead of his sleeve, even offering some from her purse.

Hanaru Uchiha - guiltily, he admitted that she was beautiful as always, in her slimming black jumpsuit and sheer shrug. She never boasted of it either. One special day he would remember, for example, was the wedding day years ago when it took place at none other than along one of Konoha's rivers and forest - something small and intimate, not meant for show. He had been Itachi's best man and watched as the bride was escorted to him by her brother, Naruto, in absence of their father.

Regretfully, he hadn't been able to see Ren's birth, though Manami assisted with the delivery. Only when he and Itachi finally saw the precious boy's face on home video, it was the greatest gift received - as much as it was to be made the little boy's godfather.

He stayed in Konoha for a while with Hanaru and her son, because they were as close as possible to family, and to see the way they dealt with Itachi's loss was difficult. Though she took the boy with her to her classes as often as she could manage, except he couldn't miss school too much. His grades were kept up, somehow, and he didn't get into trouble - much.

Sakura was doctor at the general hospital, her daughter at the daycare center, and that also meant Sasuke would be home for a good while now so that father and daughter could spend more time together. _Maybe he and Sakura could finally..._

Kabuto stopped himself from finishing the thought, because he was sure that it would feel wrong to think about such things now that Itachi was gone, that he wouldn't be able to see his baby brother get married to the woman he loved and mother of his child. Sarada was born during the first year he was away, and often was he gone that she seldom saw him except talked over the phone and got letters as well as a few little toys. For that time, their love was more important than a wedding ceremony.

Sometime in the next month that came, before the winter season began, he got a call in that a village called Otogakure - _the Village of Sound_ \- needed desperate help in that four deaths from their returning soldiers occurred since the battle in Ame.

It looked like a mysterious fever contracted on the field that they brought home, but why hadn't Kabuto seen it before? He examined those young men himself, but they didn't exhibit any symptoms, and there were no complaints when he got there...at first.

Oto Village was once a place of free speech before it became too chaotic that it was banned, lived under a strict regime that seemed to continue to this day. But rather than a Prime Minister or even an emperor to run the place today, it was governed by a bailiff - and who the man was happened to be in charge was none other than his brother-in-law, who relocated back home right after the war ended, and that meant Manami had settled down in this place with him.

It was wonderful to see his beloved little sister again, and her husband let her see Kabuto as often as she wanted, as he didn't mind what she did. That also meant she could work alongside her brother in the infirmary, but she wasn't a licensed doctor to be around the stench of blood and incised meat and bone.

But even in the months that passed in this place, nothing got easier because of a few major problems.

These country folk loathed modern science and technology, lived in the old ways and only allowed updates if they were told. In this case, their bailiff was very strict - and that also meant his men could run about anytime they wanted.

If the locals refused to have new medicine, that meant no autopsies performed on their dead loved ones, because they considered it a sin to defile the dead. But damn it, he had to examine them to see if there were clues to this strange disease that looked like rain fever or whatever you would call it.

Seven months later and seven deaths IN Oto, no autopsies and always the same dead end, enough was enough. Manami was stricken and baffled as he was. And it was then that she suggested he call for the one person who went where no one would go before. Sometimes he felt ashamed he wasn't like that yet, since the man taught him everything he knew.

So Kabuto eventually decided he needed all the help he could get...and his sister needed hers, too.

~o~

"Had a good day, honey?" she asked the small boy in the backseat as she drove them home for the day. He nodded and set his bookbag down in the empty seat beside him. Sighing, his mother turned to the front and started the engine. "We can go get some ice cream now, if you want. We can go see Uncle Naruto and Aunt Hinata -"

"Just wanna go home, Mum," Ren mumbled, looking out his window. "I'm tired."

He'd been like this ever since his daddy passed away. That meant he was having a hard time making friends because he was so quiet and withdrawn that it worried Hanaru. She talked about this to Sasuke who used to be like that until he met her and Naruto.

"He should have friends at his age, you're right. But we can't make that decision for him. Everyone deals with loss differently."

 _You're right...but I don't want my son growing up being miserable because his father is gone._

She found herself looking down at the crystal on black rope around her neck. This memento that linked her and Itachi, which she would rub for comfort, but right now she couldn't while driving. _The day he got his statue, I got this...but we also got each other._ She would never regret getting his attention and ending up the way they did. It was difficult being a soldier's wife, but it was the happiest she'd been.

As far as she was concerned, remarrying was out of the question. No one could replace Itachi.

Kabuto was in a small village north of Konoha, being general practitioner or something, and he was going to be there until he figured out what was going on there, but he couldn't divulge anything else. That worried her as she knew it did the same to him. Ren sometimes asked about him because he missed his godfather.

The silver-haired man did tell her over the phone - last time, then stuck to writing letters due to that place refusing to accept modernism - he finally found Manami and her husband living there. That made her so happy without words. He said she was doing well, was helping him with his patients, but that was the last time Hanaru heard from him in months.

Her dear friend Manami was alive and well, that she was happy to hear, though.

Finally: home, sweet home.

It was summer vacation for her boy. Her precious little boy who looked just like his daddy, had the shining raven hair but his mother's vivid sapphire eyes - not to flatter herself, but her brother and their father had them, too. She'd bet he'd grow up that handsome and have the girls chasing after him like his father and Uncle Sasuke got their share of fangirls.

"I can go ahead and call in delivery, if you want," Hanaru told him as she watched him put his bookbag down, which wasn't filled with books for now and with just different things for summer. He nodded and went upstairs to clean up and change.

So she would do what she said, but first she was going to get into her gear, too, for a relaxing evening now, and while Ren was enjoying games on the computer they shared in the apartment - he was too young, indeed, for his own - she would stroll through Netflix on the television to see her favorite movies on the agenda.

This was Hanaru's outfit for her yoga classes: a laced up light blue sweatshirt and navy sweatpants. And besides the crystal around her neck, her earrings were little hoops, a delicate white crystal watch and bracelet, and finally the ring on her right middle finger which Itachi gave her on her birthday during their second year of marriage: a lavish but subtle platinum band with a cushioned red diamond and two round white ones. It was rare to find a diamond in that color perhaps more than the others.

Showered and cleaned up, Hanaru was cozied up in a soft, short white blouse and shorts with delicate lace details. She had her hair wrapped up in a head towel to dry off before she would take it down and brush through to finish air-drying. She took this time to sit down momentarily to pick up the picture frame that sat there, framed with elegant silver roses and scrolling vines. That day of their wedding which was the happiest of their lives; behind them were their brothers and their women, and Kabuto and his sister, that husband of hers cut off.

Just before the bamboo forest on the river bank, that was where it took place. She was situated in this frame, in his arms and laughing with him and the others her dress short and crisp with a loving back of lace. Her hair was in soft, braided locks to show off the elegant chandeliers featured with faceted stones surrounded by smaller crystals.

A tear burned the corner of her eye and slid down her cheek, touching the glass.

 **Reviews please. :'(**


	3. Dreaming of You

**I'd recently listened to "Dreaming of You" (a hit from the late Latin superstar Selena Quintanilla-Perez) and it became somewhat basis as well as chapter title. :')**

Chapter Three

Dreaming of You

She dreamed of Itachi, right after the funeral, and it was maybe the best coping mechanism she had for herself besides her job and the universe that she helped flow through her students and her son who was still too young to understand this stuff.

That was what happened that very same night as soon as she laid down. Ren was asleep in his room, unless he would knock again after having a nightmare. And that was why there seemed to be perfect timing after all of this...

To keep a long story short: at some point in the night, she would see his face and knew she wasn't imagining it, but she was deep in sleep. _It's all a dream...but it feels like he IS here._ It was dark, but she saw him - and she felt his every touch on her body, his whispering of her name and promise he would always be with her and their son. Then came the feeling of his warm breath on her skin and the brush of long, silky hair out of its tie caressing her softer than his hands that followed: on her breasts beneath her shirt, her stomach, and thighs when her shorts rode up at the actions.

Always wearing the crystal to bed and having not gotten choked or lost it by now, the small, raw rock pulsed with the sensations that came with his caresses as well as the throbbing heat that he sparked below her waist, which he'd always been a master at. The sweet pink and passionate red within the jewel formed into one intense emotion, overlapping the calming blue, burning into her flesh and blood. _My man..._

Even from beyond the grave, he could still do this to her.

The people of Japan believed in reincarnation even today, but there were also those who were too skeptical like those of the western world. Ever since the early twentieth century's dawning. Maybe someday she and Itachi would meet again in another life, with no memories of their previous one - which was the present.

When she opened her eyes in the morning, she was greeted with lingering tingles in her nether regions which was post-orgasmic at its finest. Sighing with satisfaction, Hanaru was ready to start the day despite her body pleading to remain in bed a little longer. But today was Saturday, and it was also when she and Ren were going to meet with Sakura, Sarada and Hinata.

First came one of her morning rituals that never had to be broken even if she were young, fit and healthy enough, and that was to put on her sweatshirt and pants for her early morning jog.

"Be sure to finish your breakfast before I get back," she told Ren as he sat down at the table for the food she'd made him before she would take off. He nodded without a fight; he was still a good boy to listen to her when he felt like it. "Okay, love you." Smiling, Hanaru knelt down and kissed the top of his head.

Now he looked up at her and returned the smile, repeating the words which made her happy.

It was a really nice morning, too early to be hot, and it was humid enough to make some of her hair sprayed hair in its sleek tie a little loose. Her lungs took in the easy breathing of oxygen, her limbs burned with the calories, and her skin broke out into sweat, but when she got back, a quick shower would be in order while Ren enjoyed his games and maybe the television. He was also a big boy to answer the phone if Aunt Sakura or Aunt Hinata tried to call.

 _And don't let the_ Kuchisake-onna _get you._

She'd said that before of the woman with the carved mouth, hidden by the surgical mask in these days, but Konoha wasn't known for being affected by that kind of person unlike other places in Japan. Nevertheless, her son had to know about her "existence", and so had Boruto and Sarada.

But then something very frightening and surreal happened then and there. She was turning around the block's corner and coming to a side walkway that bordered one of the miniature forests in town. There was someone standing outside the forestry, but when she looked at their face by accident, she froze in every body part at once and halted her run, losing her balance and falling right onto the grass on that little raised level. _At least it's not the street or the sidewalk itself._

Before falling, she saw the person's face and had no idea if it was a dream or a nightmare - or if it was real. Too many or's even though she said it only twice to herself.

Now she looked up again and saw HIM clearly, frozen in her crumbled spot.

The skin was gray and peeling in some places, otherwise in perfect shape. Though the eyes were inhumanly black, centered with white dots, and the long, gray-black hair was loose about the shoulders instead of tied. He was clad in a ratty old, red-brown shroud.

She burst, getting up on adrenaline - and the crystal was pulsing hotly - and made a mad dash for him, yelling his name.

"ITACHI!"

But he said nothing, not even gave a blink of expression. Just stepped back with rigid grace and turned to disappear into the woods, and when Hanaru finally caught up to him, he was gone.

~o~

This new one was sure to go, since he hadn't been able to find - once again - out what was causing this malady, and he sure as hell wouldn't tell these peope a bullshit lie like "rain fever" or even "swamp fever", much less the "plague from the heavens" just so these simple people would be satisfied. They had no idea what more could be out there, though Manami insisted that it wouldn't be a good idea to engage any of them...especially the brother of this latest man in his care, when he visited the home shared with his brother.

Jurou Matsuda was his name. He had all the symptoms of Itachi and the others who followed: slow motion in movements, tiredness, even pale complexion with shadows beneath the eyes and the decrease in appetite. His elder brother by one year, Toshio, demanded that he be saved unlike the others before him, but how could Kabuto know if he and his fellow villagers didn't want him to cut the body open or take samples to have labs investigate for him?

That was why he asked his guardian to come as soon as possible, if this one didn't make it through. After twelve deaths so far in this place - thirteen if you counted his best friend - he couldn't afford another one.

There was also the matter of his sister. She hadn't been back home to her husband lately, choosing to stay with him for awhile, which had been since last week. It was then that he noticed how her right hand was bandaged, and when he inquired about it, she assured him it was just an accidental cut, though part of him was suspicious about it.

"Hideo had nothing to do with it," Manami said defensively, which was like her nowadays. He dropped it altogether - and would later regret it.

When the day was over after another checkup as well as a shouting fit from Toshio, he could use a heavy drink as well as another evening with Manami who seemed happy in his company after all the time of being married to a man who dragged her across the country...but he also noticed how exhausted she was, but she seemed to be energetic as ever and unwilling to even take a vacation despite his insistence.

~o~

She chose to not say anything of what she saw, no matter how much she wanted to. The girls could believe her, or not, but she didn't want to be told she was still grieving - after all, it had been barely a year - and that would piss her off so much that she would want to punch someone. She took many martial arts just for that, especially on men two to three times her size.

Aside from what she _thought_ she saw, it was a normal day, so to speak. Sakura was going through the second fitting of her wedding dress, but the date was yet to be set, and there was her daughter going to school very soon.

You heard right: Sakura and Sasuke were going to get married eventually, though knowing Itachi wouldn't be there was still heavy in the air, though slowly turning mild. After five years and a daughter, they were going to tie the knot. It also seemed like a good idea to get life together and move forward. _And at least have something of him to play a part on that day._

Sarada was going to be the flower girl, wear a miniature version of her mother's gown. She seemed genuinely excited; what added was that Hanaru did the best she could to spoil that girl as often as she could, but not like her husband used to. There was also her son to consider.

Sakura today was too busy smiling and talking about how enthusiastic she was, but nothing overtly done like the time she announced she and Sasuke were dating. And things got a little more brighter when the bride ended up in her dress, the curtain drawn back to show billowing but sleek ivory which bared neck and shoulders, and when she turned around, the back had a sheer, daring corset.

"Oh, Mommy!" Sarada jumped out of her chair and ran up to hug her mother who returned the embrace. "You're pretty!"

Hinata clapped her hands together, sniffling and holding back tears. "Indeed," she breathed, then swallowed as if threatened again with nausea, but she should be done when first trimester was over. She and Naruto were expecting their second child, and that meant Hanaru was going to be an aunt a third time - if you could count Sarada on her husband's side.

Unfortunately, Kabuto hadn't been here to share the wonderful news, or when Sasuke dropped down on one knee to present the mother of his child with a hell of a ring that took long enough, but was worth the wait. It wasn't every day you'd have morganite on that finger for the rest of your life; she saw the round, blushing stone on rosy gold alternating with sapphires and diamonds, as fingers wove through short, raven hair of the little girl who was sputtering incoherent words.

"Aunt Sakura." Ren had picked up the box that had her accessories, and there really wasn't a lot: a delicate crown of mossy greenery and glowing rosettes, a belt which was a ribbon of pearls and crystals in a floral Art Deco pattern, and earrings of silk white blossoms that would cascade from her ears.

There she looked, and just wait till Sasuke saw her, think that they should have done this earlier. Say to himself that was the woman he loved.

Now she and Ren were on their way back home, before the sun was setting. She planned to order from the sushi place just for them, but before that could happen, she saw the strange car in their driveyway as soon as she brought them up the street. Then she saw the man sitting patiently on the porch of the house's entrance. A face she hadn't seen in a long time, but she was also glad - but wondered what brought him here since Itachi's funeral.

"Mum, it's Mr. Orochimaru!" Ren said, unbuckling himself and getting out of the car as soon as she cut off the engine. He was out in a flash and ran up to the man whom he liked very much despite not seeing him a lot anymore. Smiling lightly, Hanaru followed her son.

"It's been awhile," she said to the man who had been an old boyfriend of her grandmother before she married her grandfather. Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru were kind of like how her brother, Sasuke and Sakura were like as a trio during younger school years: tight despite differences. Though she had met him a few times in teenage life; later, after her grandparents' deaths, Orochimaru was around more often if not replacing his old friends. He was also there when she married Itachi, but the last time she saw him was the memorial service previously mentioned.

What was more: he was Kabuto and Manami's adoptive father. Never married after her grandmother, never had children, yet he took two orphans under his wing.

Pale, features angular and narrowed like a snake; his face was framed by loose midnight hair and set with eyes golden as tiger's eye. "Yes, it has, dear Hanaru." He took the boy into a brief embrace. "I apologize for not calling ahead of time, but a surprise might be nicer - unless I caught you both at the wrong time?"

Indeed, it was a surprise. But he might have come at a good one. "Oh, no, not at all." She walked up the porch and fished out her keys from her bag, turning the lock and opening the door. "I was planning to order from the sushi place, but you're here now, so you want to join us?" she offered.

He smiled, standing up and stretching himself; he must have been sitting there for a good while before she and Ren arrived. "I would be honored. That is partly the reason I came: I am on holiday for the first time in many weeks, so now was a perfect timing." But then his face fell slightly, telling her that there was something more serious. Her blood chilled. "It's Kabuto."

~o~

Orochimaru was just like his beloved Tsunade, rest her soul and Jiraiya's, in the sense that he was one of the most renowned physicians in Konoha, having served during the last two wars on the battlefield with her, while their friend was out there and nearly getting himself killed only to come back intact.

Why he and Hanaru's grandmother didn't work out: he basically let work, which had always been his life, overtake his personal life that he didn't notice she wanted some changes for THEM. As a result, he lost her to his best friend.

He watched them marry and have Minato, then watched Minato wed and have two children. They had happiness and joy, he was a part of it all, but by the time he realized that he lost Tsunade, all sense of his own personal joy slipped away - along with any hopes of having what they all did. Being there to watch the children grow up besides continuing to work alongside her at the hospital in peace times softened his internal pain, but never eradicated completely.

Then came two young children who lost their parents during the last war, both of whom were currently in Otogakure - a small village refusing to accept modern technology and way of life. Much less medicinal miracles. It made him wonder how on earth Kabuto could manage while he was there. His "son" - it felt like a surreal, sweet melting to call him his own - was battling a mysterious illness that resulted in thirteen dead so far.

It wasn't anything that was on the books, but Kabuto was obscure in the letter he composed. Another unfortunate matter of communication. Hanaru and her friends hardly heard from him these days.

Eight months had gone by since the loss of Itachi. Orochimaru admired the young man in more ways than one, but when he died strangely - Kabuto never really confided him in all the details despite their history and having trained under him while he was still an intern and med student at Konoha General. Then both Kabuto and his only and first real friend besides his younger sister went off to Ame to aid against the civil war, having not needed his help anymore. Not that he minded, but sometimes he felt he was missing out on something.

Now he got the letter which said details like this: _Young working men strangely dying off, one a month, and there is no physical attribute to the causes. Need your help, Dad._

And that wasn't all: _Manami could use seeing Hanaru again if possible._ That was a concern just as much; did she finally manage to leave that husband of hers? Hideo Hashimoto wasn't precisely a choice he would have approved of despite his status, given his own experiences with that kind. Oh, well, Orochimaru would find out as soon as he was in Oto, which was north of Konoha.

Hanaru was lovely as ever, and her son had become a bigger boy since last time. He got so much of his father in his features, but he had his mother's eyes. Although what concerned him, his mother and especially their friends was how he dealt with his father's death. He was doing well in school, but the social circle was something else. Perhaps an outing from home could do him good for a change.

Orochimaru had a few more months left before he officially retired, and then he would have more free time to relax. He could use it to see Itachi's widow more often. Like right now, and a nice meal cooked by someone else - although she didn't feel like being at the stove and ordering from outdoors. This was his chance to tell her - while the boy was playing games at the television - and show the note from Kabuto.

A sparkle came over her eyes at the mention of him, and musing that Manami must miss her terribly. "I haven't seen or heard from her in ages," she said sadly. "But if we go, I'd have to get someone to substitute for my classes until I get back."

Ren had ears like a cat. He paused his game and whirled around to yell across the threshold. "Mum, we should go see Uncle Kabuto and Aunt Manami!" he said, his face alight and unlike the gloomy youth he looked like a long while ago. Orochimaru felt his face split into a smile, turning back to the mother herself and seeing the minor struggle on her face, but the answer was as he anticipated.

They were all going to Oto Village.

 **Kuchisake-onna AKA "Slit-Mouthed Woman" - a malevolent figure appearing in Japanese ghost stories, possibly dating back to the Edo period. As a living serial killer, she approaches her victims with seemingly innocuous questions before killing them, usually with a pair of scissors. (cited Wiki) In the old days, she was said to have her mouth covered by a cloth, a fan or a scarf. Modern stories say she walks around with a surgical mask. (cold sweat and tears) Those poor children are aware but sometimes get taken! These Japanese legends are truly terrifying but fascinating.**


	4. The Village of Sound

Chapter Four

The Village of Sound

Orochimaru coming couldn't have been at a good timing. Ren was happy to see him, which was a nice change for once. It had been such a long time, if she hadn't said it enough.

The food arrived so that they all could talk, and that was when he presented the letter Kabuto wrote, which detailed people had been...very sick and lost the will to - he stopped there when he looked over at Ren who was enjoying a tuna rice ball. Hanaru decided that he couldn't hear about the topic of death, guessing what Kabuto's troubles were, but after losing his daddy, her boy didn't need to hear anymore.

Of course he insisted. "No, I wanna hear," he pleaded.

"Hanaru," Orochimaru added with a slight upturn to his mouth, "you're his mother, but I think he is old enough to start understanding these matters."

Resigned and sighing in defeat, she acquiesced.

 _Twelve people in Otogakure dead from a strange sickness, but no physical contribution or pattern? Nothing except one a month, not counting the four who died in Ame, with Itachi's symptoms..._

Kabuto never said anything about an autopsy performed; in fact, he was extremely vague as if in a hurry or out of his mind after the experiences. And that he really needed help because he hit one too many dead ends that modern medicine couldn't aid. It was THAT serious.

Add in that it would be a great chance to see Manami again, and that was what Hanaru couldn't say no to. All that was left to do was break the news to everyone else that she and Ren would go out for a few days or so, and that Orochimaru was going with them.

And of course, ask someone to fill in for her classes, which wasn't hard, because surprisingly, Sasuke was going to. Saying that he needed something relaxing and help him function around other people, not that he was saying his fiancée and daughter weren't doing that.

"Please be careful up there, sis," Naruto told her before kissing her on the cheek and she returned it, then the same to Hinata and Boruto. "I heard that while small towns are safe, they are also filled with superstitious people and ruling upperclassmen like the old-school days."

Ren had no trouble saying bye to his aunts, uncles and cousins.

There was going to be trouble with traveling up north, and they were taking her car - all three of them - and going through lush countryside and plenty of smaller towns with inns on the way. They'd stayed in only two before finally crossing the border.

It was here that they saw what looked like a hunt, with four men on horses and chasing after none other than a _fox_ which Ren squeaked and pointed out. "Mum, Mr. Orochimaru, why do they want to kill that poor animal?" That was her smart little boy to figure it out, but while it was normal in these parts to hunt a defenseless animal for food, for bloodlust alone was something else. "I heard some kids in school talking about that! Why doesn't anyone put a stop to the nasty sport?" Ren asked angrily, pouting and folding his arms across his chest.

Hanaru sighed behind the wheel while Orochimaru chuckled. While she agreed with her son, they did not come all the way out here to interfere with these people's customs just to satisfy sensitivity over the treatment of wild animals...but for his sake, she chose the latter over better judgment and hoped she wouldn't regret it.

This chance came when the men surrounded the car, and it would have caused them to run off the road had she not gotten control and screeched to a halt. Angrily, Orochimaru rolled down the window and shouted, "Excuse me, blast it all! Are you trying to kill us?"

"Shut up, old man," one of the men snapped, with average appearance and dark hair and eyes. "You happen to be driving on our roads. We are just wanting to know if you've seen a fox run by."

Hanaru leaned over her somewhat great-uncle figure and shouted, forcing a smile, "I might have seen him go due west." _Far away from north where we are going. Hopefully that gets you beasts away._ The guy looked her over and pondered her answer before taking it and not suspecting the trick. He thanked her and called her "young lady" before yelling orders to the others that they were going west.

"Mum, did you just -?" Ren started, having paid attention but kept quiet because he knew better than to get into grown-up business.

"Yes, young man, I lied to save that fox's life," she answered, rolling her window back up and starting the engine again. Orochimaru did the same, shaking his head.

"While I'm sure that fox will be grateful, I doubt the young man will be. Let's hope you never meet him again, dear Hanaru."

~o~

Just pray to the gods that those young men, who had to be part of the upper class who also took relish in making those beneath them feel like utter trash, wouldn't come across them if they discovered she fooled them for her child's sake, and that fox.

When they finally arrived at Oto, it wasn't even rundown, but fanciful enough for appearances' sake. Cottages and places to eat and shop for clothing, but no sign of an infirmary, which meant his son must have his work taken right to the house. It was saddening to see a small, seemingly warm and inviting place have so little yet enough to satisfy.

There was the sound of a bell and gong tolling, which indicated that services were in play - or a funeral procession. Hanaru pointed the latter out when she paused the car on the side enough to let them all pass by. There was the priest, incense carried by a couple hands, and four men carried the coffin while another, younger and somber, walked behind them. Utterly depressed. _Must be the loved one of whoever died._

It was then that all halted just as there was the sound of galloping hooves, and every man - and both woman and man who stood by in the streets to just watch - whirled around to see the four men Orochimaru, Hanaru and Ren ran into before coming here. He bared his teeth in a hiss as he KNEW this would happen again...but it happened far too soon.

The people carrying the coffin were nearly run into - _damn these horsemen and their lack of decency and respect!_ \- and they dropped the great box over the bridge they were crossing. Thank God there was no water, or else the poor fellow would have been irretrievable! But that didn't stop Orochimaru from snapping, unbuckling himself and getting out of the car to inspect this devil of a disaster. Hanaru and her son both followed him, and the mother quickly covered his eyes so he didn't see the horrible vision.

The dead was a young man, with ebony hair cropped to a flap around his skull, but that look on his face was the most unnatural he had ever seen in his decades of living: eyes opened but rolled up into the skull, and the jaw slack to show a silent scream. Skin had a slight ashen highlight. Moaning, Hanaru closed her eyes and turned herself and Ren away. Orochimaru turned and glared at the surrounding horsemen, demanding what they thought they were doing - and what he feared transpired.

"So, the fox went west, did he, woman?" the leader sneered at Hanaru who only lifted her chin back in return. "You had better stay out of my sight from now on. We're the most unpleasant lot you've come across." Ren opened his mouth to shout back, but his mother covered it to not make it worse. The leader sniffed down at the young boy before barking that they were all going away.

"How horrible," Hanaru hissed. "They ought to be reported." _They ought to be, but who would be on our side?_

"Come on, get back into the car," Orochimaru told the child and his mother just as they were being approached by the young man who was in the far back of the procession - the lad was angrily slamming his fist against the stoned railing and comforted to no avail by the priest - and the holy man himself was next to him.

"Is there anything we can do, Priest?" Hanaru asked him kindly after opening the back door for her son to get in and buckle in, and the angry lad raised his voice.

"Yeah, bitch, you can keep away from us."

Orochimaru held in his breath at the vile name that was called on the woman when her own child was present. She huffed at his rebuttal. "Excuse me, but we didn't mean for that to happen! Those ruffians are to blame, and this is my child you just swore before!" she snapped, closing the door so that Ren didn't talk back.

"Shut it, and leave us alone," the man growled, spitting at the ground before her feet and stalking off.

 _Why, that boy's grief has clouded his judgment, and how dare he curse with a young boy present!_ Orochimaru scowled at that insufferable youth before looking back at the priest who reached out and took Hanaru's hand. "I know it wasn't your fault, my dear," he told her, kindly but sadly. "That was the poor lad's brother in the coffin." He released her and stepped back by one.

"The gods are punishing us for our sins."

~o~

And this was already the most unpleasant place she had been to! Those scoundrels, that angry man who lost his brother and didn't care that he called a woman a bitch with her little boy present - but she remembered something was going on in this place that was no one's fault.

Still, to be called a name that degraded you was enough to harden the female heart.

"I don't even know if I can drive now," she bitterly told Orochimaru, who nodded and rested his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it and offering to do it for her. After asking one person around, which was a kind elderly man on a cane who was otherwise in healthy shape, they were driving for the great residence which was Dr. Kabuto Yakushi's home and office.

"Mum, why did that man call you that word?" Ren mumbled finally, having not spoken a word the rest of the time, not that she blamed him, for she was still reeling at today's events. _Thankfully we're not going to be here for long. The sooner this is resolved, the better._

Since Orochimaru was driving, she turned around and forced a smile. "Just was upset, and sometimes people blame others for no reason."

"Still, that was no excuse," he snapped, picking up his hand-held video game.

Tired from today and wishing it was over with, she chose not to respond to that, and Orochimaru said nothing either. They all got out of the car in silence and grabbed their duffel bags - choosing to travel light for only a few days - and made way for the front door which was crawling all about the frame with ivy. She held hers over one shoulder and pushed the ringer that she was glad was installed. They waited for a few moments before it was answered.

There she was: Manami Yakushi - or Manami Hashimoto now. Hanaru was surprised to see her here, since that husband of hers rarely let her out of his sights, from her recollection. Her dear friend was in a soft blue dress dotted all over with white. But despite the nice garment, her appearance was something else: there were dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept good for some time. Her silvery hair was held in a ponytail that was sticking up in places.

"I'm sorry," she said to them all, sounded haggard. "The doctor isn't in."

 _She didn't even recognize us!_ "Manami, you don't remember us?" Hanaru asked, shocked. "It's me, Hanaru, and Orochimaru and Ren."

Now recognition flashed across the other woman's face. "Oh, Hanaru!" Now she burst to life, accepting an embrace that was warm but felt feeble. Like she didn't know her own strength anymore. "Why didn't you write to let us know you were coming?" She knelt down and patted Ren on the head before hugging him, too.

"No computer," Ren told her, having not yet understood technology yet. And everyone in his generation didn't write letters and send through snail mail much anymore unless the device crashed or slowed.

"Yes, Manami, that is precisely why," Orochimaru told her, kissing her forehead. "Pity this town doesn't want to move forward. Kabuto wrote to us and asked us all to come." He then looked down and frowned. "What's this? I hope no one did this to my girl, or if who I think it is..." He narrowed his eyes to snake slits then and there.

 _Who I think it is..._

Manami bit her bottom lip and put her hand to where he was talking about. Hanaru glanced to where he was talking about and what she indicated: a gauze bandage was taped around her right wrist. "Nothing. Just a cut. It was an accident some days ago, and Kabuto took care of it," she said, all in a rush that Orochimaru seemed suspicious.

Hanaru had never been fond of her friend's husband, given she didn't see him often and that he took Manami away from all of them. There was also that look on her face: worry and fright that she was fighting to hide. "Forgive me," Manami said quietly. "I'm sorry for sounding short. I feel a little untidy and haven't finishing tidying the house. And there's been some trouble here in Oto..."

Well, to hell with the house not being messy, because it couldn't be any worse than at home. Hardly a dust particle to be seen.

"Can we stay, Aunt Manami?" Ren asked, eyes wide and making her laugh and pat his head.

"Of course, you're all welcome to stay." She helped them get their bags inside, but all she did was keep the door open for them and then close it behind them. Orochimaru put his down first.

"Where's that brother of yours, my dear? I'll feel like a happier father if I can get him back here for a proper welcome - and see what all this trouble is."

~o~

So, here he was in the tavern after the loss of Jurou Matsuda, and he was too much of a coward to show his face at the funeral. Manami understood and chose to stay with him, but now she was at the house while he was here. He hadn't told her he would be here because she would just tell him drinking wouldn't solve his problems, but he knew that! _A man had the right to have a drink to clear his head - anything to give answers!_

And just like that: Toshio Matsuda came in, ready for a drink, too. "Doctor," he said as soon as he came near Kabuto's table, which he sat at alone and the other men had acknowledged him but otherwise ignored him when he first arrived.

"Toshio," Kabuto replied numbly after a sip of brandy. "Would you have a drink with me?"

"Thank you, but I'll buy my own. One large beer, Akiro," he said to the bartender who gave him his order, but he didn't sit down when he stood once again before Kabuto's table. "Well, it certainly wasn't good enough, was it?" Contempt dripped from his voice, which was a combination of grief, true loathing and lack of faith in him. Just like the others. "What do you suppose it was that killed him? That killed them ALL?"

Bitterly, Kabuto downed another swig before clearing his throat and answering. "I don't know."

"You...don't...know." Beer glass almost full was slammed down with force enough to get the attention of the entire tavern. "And you call yourself a doctor?"

He stood up in frustration, nearly knocking the table over. "I don't know," he ground out, "because you won't let me find out! If you had let me carry out one post-mortem -!"

"There's no sense cutting him open after he's dead. Too late then. Because of you, that's my brother lying dead out there - and twelve others like him. Twelve - that's one a month, not counting the four who went off to serve our country and this village," Toshio said angrily, eyes narrowing dangerously. "Not a very good record, is it?"

"You just admitted it," Kabuto returned heatedly, "that a handful died before I came here, and that was why I came out here: to use 'miracles' to find out what they died from. If I was to tell you without an autopsy that they died from a rain-stemmed illness from Ame, or even local swamp fever, the plague or whatever nonsense it is, it wouldn't even be the truth." He paused to take a few deep breaths and rubbed his eyes after taking off his glasses.

"It wouldn't be good enough to lie to you people in order to make you satisfied."

The response: to them, as far as they were concerned - but mostly to Toshio Matsuda, he wasn't good enough to them anymore, not that he ever was to begin with.

"Well, I've been looking for you, and it is a good thing you are here of all places."

He felt his eyes widen at the man who came in midst of the gathering, having heard the commotion? "Orochi - I mean, Dad," he said quickly, stunned that he actually came and that it had to be today of all days, but the time couldn't have been best or worst.

 _If you're here...that means Hanaru is also here._ He really wanted to see her, too.

Orochimaru wrapped his arm around his shoulder, pulling him close and broadly smiling at all the men in the room - even at Toshio who was still scowling. "We've met before, but under...distressing circumstances," he said with a locked gaze with the one who was the most hostile. "But permit me to introduce myself: I am Orochimaru, professor at Konoha Medical University and doctor at the general hospital. This young man here is like a son I never had, and my best and most clever, able pupil." His face and tone both hardened.

"I hope you realize how lucky you are to have him."

"Dad, I didn't even think you would come - today of all times. I lost another," Kabuto told him as soon as they were away from that crowd, making way for the house where the women were waiting.

The older man nodded. "Hm, I saw upon arrival. There was a bit of an...unfortunate run-in when we pulled over to see. Damned privileged scoundrels who intruded and caused the casket to topple over the bridge." Kabuto held his breath as he could imagine how that made the victim's brother just as he was now.

 _The men of the man who runs this village..._ But he could say nothing. Right now, he wanted to catch up with the man who raised and taught him everything, and reconnect with Hanaru who was no doubt doing so with Manami.

"Well, you have no idea how grateful I am you are here. Too much trouble in this place, and I thought I could use both my hands since they DID count on me...until now."

"Oh, we can talk about that hocus-pocus later, my dear boy."

And when they did get back to the house, she was there, but so was her boy who shouted "Uncle Kabuto!" and ran up into him to be scooped up. His godson was a joy, and he really was growing into a spitting image of his father! But when he turned his attention to the mother, his breath was blown away at the beauty in her long white sweater and tight jeans, long sunlit hair in a tie, the crystal dangling around her neck pulsing with three different colors within.

It made him feel a little guilty to think of her like that, no matter if his best friend was dead. He was too respectful to think he deserved Itachi's family like that.

Seeing them both made the end of the day so much better, but the strain was going to come back unless the end to his worries was presented.

~o~

Not as many patients as they'd like, Kabuto said that evening, and that was an oddity in itself, but the damned issue with this epidemic without a name contributed to the villagers' loss of trust in Dr. Yakushi.

Manami interrupted, insisting they talk about pleasant things, and Hanaru did most of the talking about what happened in Konoha, which was also Ren speaking up and saying he was doing good in school - except making friends. But his Uncle Sasuke was right in that he would do that when he was ready. Everyone coped with death differently, but she wished the same could be said for that bastard who called her a bitch. She hoped she'd never see him again.

That was going to be a problem, same with those men on horses, since there was no telling what they would do to a woman like her for screwing up their hunt. It was a small village, after all.

But she was a gymnast, and that meant she could flip up and around, even throw punches to fight back. _Don't get your ego too high, Hanaru._

Manami worked as a nurse with her brother, but Kabuto did most of the work since last week since she looked like she was in need of a holiday after they were both exhausted...except Kabuto had simply barely-there dark circles under his eyes. At least they looked like they were eating right -

No, she took that back. Manami barely had much on her plate tonight, worrying her, but the silver-haired woman insisted it was nothing.

Dinner consisted of a fantastic grilled fish and rice balls, and it was nothing short of heaven. "Yum, thanks, Aunt Manami!" Ren said when he put his fork down and wiped his mouth. "I loved it!" She laughed and reached to pat his head again.

"Thank your mom, too, for her help."

"Yeah, thanks to you, Mum!" he said, jumping up and running around to hug her. Smiling and feeling warm, Hanaru wrapped her arms around him.

Orochimaru snickered at the loving display that made her flush. "Well, that was indeed a fine meal, ladies." He then looked down at his watch. "Oh, goodness, the time. Not my place to suggest it, but is it time for young Ren to be off to bed - or is that for his mother to decide?"

Laughing, Hanaru answered since they were going to share one guest room and Orochimaru would have another. This house was so grand, but not opulent, and had more than enough rooms. Which meant there was no problem, but Ren wouldn't be able to sleep well in a strange place like this, and she wasn't going to take any chances, either, after today. "Night, mister," she told him jokingly, kissing him and letting Manami take him herself. That left her to help the boys clear the dishes.

"You want one?" she heard Kabuto ask, and looked up to see him offering her and his guardian a cup of sake, asking them both if they would join him after this. _Oh, I could use one myself._ Saying this, Hanaru took it and swallowed in a gulp, making him laugh. "Need to rush?"

"I had to. Besides those horsemen, there was an understatement of an issue," she spat. "The brother of that dead man called me a bitch in front of Ren and blamed us, told us to get the hell out of here."

His face tightened, looking like he wanted to say the worst things ever, but refrained. "Toshio Matsuda is his name, Hanaru. And I don't blame either of you." He bared his teeth. "But the nerve to treat us all like this. I did everything I could, but damn it, I got no answers." He stopped there, turning around to make sure Ren wasn't around, and if he was, Hanaru planned to give him more than an earful. Thankfully her son wasn't there anymore.

Orochimaru frowned disapprovingly when he watched his former pupil take a cup of liquor for himself. "That's not the answer, you know."

"I know." Kabuto gulped. "I wish I did have the answer. But this disease seems to be more mental than physical. And psychology isn't my area of expertise."

Hanaru remembered that his letter was obscure, leaving out too many details - especially an autopsy. Though covered were indefinitely loss of skin color and appetite, as well as retarded movements...and that sounded not only like her late husband had endured, but also a certain someone who looked like she was in need of a break from all of this.

When this was suggested by her own tongue, Kabuto's eyes widened. "Y-you don't mean Manami, do you?" he asked, startled.

"No, no, no jumping to conclusions." Thank Orochimaru for stepping in and understanding her pointing everything out despite not being a doctor like them. He cleared his throat then. "But what did the autopsy show?" The answer wasn't what either of them expected, shocking them.

"I didn't make any."

"You didn't make any? What in the world had come over you?" Orochimaru demanded, more dismayed than angry.

For Hanaru, she was stunned because he had no time for dissection of Itachi after he died, because the body vanished, only now he had been surrounded by more than one who had the opportunity. "I wasn't permitted to make any," Kabuto insisted.

Now she was infuriated that a great doctor and a good man like him could be barred from a crucial part of his miracle work. "Who the hell stops you?" Hanaru asked.

"The villagers," he replied, voice dripping a little with resentment. "They don't want the bodies of their loved ones cut about."

 _Superstitions - but they're nothing like us. They're too scared, but I can't even give them a piece of my mind, damn it! And isn't there a coroner who supports him?_ Orochimaru read her mind and asked this, but Kabuto said there was no coroner, adding to the disbelief.

"This isn't Konoha, you two. It's a small village inhabited by simple country people riddled with supernatural and religious beliefs - and all dominated by a bailiff rather than the Prime Minister himself. He acts as not only magistrate, but coroner, judge and jury."

One man alone like the squire in Great Britain soils, was it? Orochimaru's brows formed one line as he scowled again. Hanaru felt she needed one more drink, but refrained because she had dishes to do, though the snake-like man insisted she go join her son and Manami now and leave the rest for him and Kabuto. Sighing and agreeing with how tired she was, feeling it in her bones, she left them both and said good night, but as soon as she was around the corner, she heard him ask Kabuto who the "jack of all trades" was...

...and the answer caused the world to spin altogether.

"My brother-in-law...Hideo Hashimoto."

 **Man, oh man, drama when they arrive in a strange, new place. Oh and yeah: Manami's husband plays a much bigger role. Wait and see what happens...**


	5. The Man in the Mills

**Attempted sexual assault is present, so proceed with caution.**

Chapter Five

The Man in the Mills

Yes, his brother-in-law ran the village. Secret was out.

And his sister hadn't been home with her man she claimed to love so much because she was...afraid, she said. Hideo Hashimoto wasn't known well to the Oto public eye, having shut much of himself away, so in a way, Kabuto was relieved that he and his friends and loved ones weren't alone in not knowing the mysterious man he had a strange feeling about.

But Manami wasn't ready to talk, so he never made her. And if her husband had wanted her to come home, he would have done so a long time ago. _And he still doesn't know she's a little...exhausted._

Just like he was, at the moment, from everything. But he was also distracted because of the memory of Hanaru being here, smelling her sweet and spicy lily-of-the-valley fragrance from a distance, and didn't regret admitting he did fancy it more than any other sweet perfume a girl would cherish.

As a consequence, he ended up dropping the dish he was drying, cursing himself and causing Orochimaru to chuckle at his apology. "That was your property, not mine," the man reminded him. "Let me dry while you wash."

"I need another drink," Kabuto mumbled, but what he needed was his worries to end, and there was only one thing to do, which was something only Orochimaru could suggest.

"Not applying for exhumation, my boy, but we're going through with it as soon as no one is aware. We start tonight," he stated, yellow eyes glittering with excitement, but the younger man was overcome by a cold shiver up his spine at the idea of getting out of this house while the ladies and Ren were out like logs, and heading to the graveyard for the freshly buried grave of none other than _Jurou Matsuda_. He was the freshest they could have for an autopsy to be performed, and as soon as the job was done, they would return him to where he would continue resting.

Kabuto didn't like this idea of committing illegal means, but what other choice was there?

 _Whatever this malady is, Itachi ended up being the first one, and then the four men in Ame with him, then getting all those here in this village._

~o~

She went off to check on Ren while the men were cleaning the dishes for her. And as expected, he was laying on the other side of the bed. They hardly shared a bed unless he had nightmares. He was up with the light on and with a book; still wanted his mom to read to him.

But there was Manami doing that job for her. It was an old manga for children that she and Naruto loved when they were kids, and then she read it to Ren when he started getting old enough to understand words. When they heard the door open, they both smiled. She returned it and set about finding her sleeping gear in her bag she had yet to unpack for the stay.

"Well, night, big boy," Manami told the boy as she closed the book and slid off the bed. "You'd better get your sleep if you want to start the day tomorrow. See if any of the villagers would show you and your mom to have a good time."

 _But if I see that Matsuda jerk, he'll know better than to insult us again._

If Hanaru knew that kind, she'd say he would get really drunk off his tail because he lost the brother he clearly loved so much. Or maybe she could sit his ass down and talk to him about manners regarding a mother and her child, and see if he could relate if she told him she lost her husband, knowing what it was like to lose family.

"I'll be right back, honey," she told Ren who slipped further under the covers and reached up to turn the _shoji_ lamp off. That was when she followed Manami to the bathroom which was the only one in this house. She waited outside, the door opened, as her friend did the ritual of washing her teeth and talking about her husband more.

"Why aren't you with him at the present?" Hanaru asked curiously, and for a moment, there was a pause.

"Well, because of the trouble, he let me be with my brother. He's also got enough on his plate as it is that we both thought it best we be separated for a while."

Hanaru frowned; that sounded suspicious enough. Wasn't Manami so in love with Hideo Hashimoto that they seemed almost inseparable? _Well, not like I know him well either. And Kabuto always said he was arrogant and overbearing._

Water stopped running and Manami came out, this time with a tired expression. "I have to go to bed now. Night, Hanaru." But the blonde woman wasn't going to have it.

"No, wait...are you trying to tell me something else?"

Her question seemed to cause the silver-haired one to freeze and then jerk as if jolted by an invisible electroshock. "N-no, not at all. I just have to go to sleep now. I'll see you in the morning."

That was enough to make Hanaru decide that she was going to hide and then follow her friend out of this house. If the men were busy doing whatever they were doing, if they would stay and watch Ren, she could slip out and see what the deal was, for she hid behind the bathroom door and watched as Manami grabbed her sweater jacket and walked towards the stairs, tiptoeing down enough to not make any noise.

She was a soldier's wife - well, widow - so, of course she had a gun on herself for protection, because you never knew what kind of creeps were there. Even those men on the horses. They could get a load of a small woman with athletic strength and a GUN in one.

There were a few people outside at this time, but a middle-aged few. She did see a few numbers of young men and women around, telling her the majority of the victims were male. That was a strange pattern, but didn't that priest say the "gods are punishing us for our sins"?

Hanaru took the car and decided to drive out, seeing that there was a road which led out to the woods, and she did follow Manami in that direction...until she lost her, and cursed herself for this happening so fast. But the dark was also to blame. And these damned headlights which had to start blinking out on her at this time!

Grabbing her flashlight, too, Hanaru parked the car on the side of the road, locking it and going in the direction her friend had gone. _How the hell am I gonna find her out here?! What if Ren wakes up and notices I'm gone? Orochimaru and Kabuto won't know -!_

She was calling the woman's name, getting no response - until one did finally come in the form of a familiar face popping before her and reaching for her. She could smell the stench of alcohol on his breath as he lunged closer, snarling that he knew her. She dropped her flashlight in the heat of the moment, reaching out and striking him in the face enough to make it red.

And miraculously sending him down to the ground, where he hit his head against that tree trunk.

But damn it all, there were now horses galloping. Damn her and send her straight to hell...

Those horses all cornered her, and raising her gun at them didn't do any good, nor did firing a shot only to miss - and one of the men grabbed her arm and hauled her up onto the horse, right in front of him and keeping her close to prevent her from escaping.

They took her across the fields and to a clearing which led to a great estate not far away, ignoring her protests that she had a child waiting for her, and the man holding her snapping at her to shut it. That man happened to be the one who threatened her.

Hanaru wound up pulled down from that horse and into the estate, where she was thrown onto a floor covered with lush, scenic carpets. She lost her wits then and there, screaming, "LET ME GO, YOU BLOODTHIRSTY PIECES OF SHIT!"

Her language and defiance earned a slap which made her flesh wave like the ocean, and onto the floor only to be cornered at all costs by the three while their leader helped himself to a drink in a quick, single swig. Snarling through her teeth, Hanaru thought to swing her legs to swipe one of them off his feet and then jump up on both of hers, but her legs ended up caught and held together, forcing her to wiggle about like a fish flopping on dry land. She had never been so scared, but she was going to keep fighting if she had anything to say about it. If only her gun wasn't taken by one of those bastards!

 _Goddamn it, what have I gotten into? Oh, God, they're going to...!_

"Daisuke, this one's one feisty vixen in the cage, isn't she?"

Daisuke...that was the name of their leader. He chuckled and put down the last of his brandy glass. "Indeed. Now, who should have her first? Oh, yes, let's draw cards and see who has the smallest..."

"ENOUGH! WHAT THE DEVIL IS GOING ON?!"

That voice which roared into the air - that was the one she never thought she would hear. And it happened to be the owner of this estate. _My God...these animals WORK for that man!_ "Leave her alone, I say," Hideo Hashimoto raged, stalking down the stairs and going right for Daisuke, and he, too, sent a blow to the face before barking at all of them to get out of his sight.

And when all of them were gone, she was left alone with him. Tall, dark and handsome, of course, but he certainly wasn't Itachi. "Mrs. Uchiha," the man said with a nod of the head. "It's been ages. I never thought our paths would cross again like this."

She swallowed and answered steadily, relieved she was back to normal despite being nearly made into a plaything by those creatures. She stood up from the floor and dusted herself off, fixing her ponytail back into place. "Neither did I, Mr. Hashimoto," she answered. He chuckled and shook his head.

"Please, I'm your dear friend's husband. Hideo will be fine with me." He then sighed. "I know it's pointless to ask for my friends' forgiveness. They can be even more out of hand than I want them to be."

 _"Out of hand"? They nearly tainted and stained me for life!_ "So, you didn't know what was going on," Hanaru stated, earning a solemn and sincere shake of the head.

"None at all. But if it's any consolation, I can let you walk out of here now, unscathed, and you can return to your vehicle wherever you've left it." He shook his head as he led her back to the front door. "Understanding that you do still have it, but I have no idea why you would be out here and alone at this time of night. But I suppose it's not really my business."

"You're right," Hanaru answered. "It isn't, but I thank you anyway."

He opened the door for her, still watching her closely. He was so unreadable, but the more she looked at him now, somehow she saw a little bit of her...husband in him. But Hideo Hashimoto had no slanted lines beneath his eyes, and his hair was cropped and slicked around the ears. "Then before I let you go, would it hurt if I ask you how you have fared since your husband's death, if it's not too personal?" he asked her.

Hanaru was taken aback a little by the question. He had sent a wreath of the same funeral flowers, writing a "sincere condolences" note in the process which she did find was thoughtful enough. "I've done just fine, and so has Ren. And he's also expecting me to return at this moment. A mother should never leave her child alone for very long."

"Yes, you are right. Good night and please take care. Suppose I see you again, Mrs. Uchiha?"

She lifted her chin at him. "Maybe I will. And you can call me Hanaru."

So he let her go, not before promising that she shouldn't go to the police and report her near attack. Because he was bailiff, he was responsible for the welfare of everyone in this village, and if this got out, the scandal attached to his name would mean a disaster in that the common folk would no longer respect him the same way. Scoffing at the injustice, Hanaru bitterly agreed to not report...for now.

Hanaru had seen one of the spots Daisuke and his men took her on the way to the Hashimoto Manor, and she would take that direction to the car so she could get back to Kabuto's place, but not before she would finish looking for Manami, wherever she was now.

Thank God she got her gun back and found her fallen flashlight on the way, seeing as the batteries weren't going to die out. And thank God she didn't run into the drunken Toshio Matsuda again. _He must have been clonked out good._

When she got Manami and they got back into the car, she would engage in meditation with her friend to relieve the stress of tonight's events. And hopefully she would be able to sleep after that...

Hanaru happened across a piece of land that appeared to be a mine work. But she had no idea what was beneath the ground. It also didn't appear to be functional, but she suspected it was on Hashimoto land, which must mean the man owned it himself. She could ask Manami about it -

She halted when her ears were greeted with a noise that she heard behind her as she raised her flashlight before herself, trying to find where it was coming from. At first, it started off being a simple snap of a twig on the ground. Then, in the distance as her senses stretched, she could hear that it was something akin to beating... _drums?_

 _Why the hell are drums beating around these parts? They don't even sound like they are native..._

And that wasn't all, for as she felt the crystal around her neck pulsing as it sensed a physical presence - and such a NASTY aura surrounding it - she gasped in horror and nearly dropped her flashlight as its beam shone on the monstrosity that stood above her head, against the backdrop that was an unmoving wheel.

At first glance, she would have mistaken the man in the old shroud to be her husband, but the features didn't match him at all. Nor did the maniacal leer, baring rotting teeth and uttering a croaking cackle as "he" released the immobile human form in gray hands, letting it roll down the small hill until it landed face up, staring up at nothing in particular and covered around the neck and mouth with some bright red blood.

Hanaru shrieked at the sight of the person she came all the way out here for, not seeing the horrible man - _no, he can't even be human!_ \- walk away as if it didn't faze him. Now she dropped her flashlight only to pick it up again and run towards the corpse of her friend, getting no pulse in either the wrist or the jugular at the throat.

"MANAMI!"

~o~

It hadn't been easy to get out of the house after making sure the village was deserted. As soon as the moon was at its highest, he and Orochimaru were with their shovels and making way for the cemetery.

Irony in that: he wondered if he would end up seeing the face of his best friend again, which he told his mentor and guardian about before they came here. There were some days he thought he imagined it all, but Itachi would be far away but clear for his eyes, and the description clearly imprinted was that of nightmares and old legends.

Walking corpse was the best way to describe: gray-skinned, rotting, and in a ratty shroud unfit for a living person. And those eyes...

There were no police patrolling, but in this village, you could never be too careful. There were a few men in uniform and badge in Oto, and all good, too. They didn't blame Kabuto Yakushi for the mysterious deaths of these young men, for the son of one of the policemen was among the first in this village, having not gone out to serve in Ame.

Now that the two men found Jurou Matsuda's resting place, it was time to get to work, but Kabuto still had a terrible feeling about this. He wasn't a religious man, but there was such a thing as respect for the dead in the earth where they should be.

They dug the grave well into the late hours of the night, and it was as if an eternity passed by before it was laid bare for them, but just as Orochimaru was prying open the lid, there was a stern voice catching them, ordering them both to stop what they were doing. _Damn, we've been caught!_

"You gentlemen just step up a moment. This is a serious charge that will be in the morning - for grave robbing."

Sergeant Samon Sano and of course Senior Officer Chiba at their services. If you must know, the former was the one whose son died under Kabuto's care, before the others followed.

Kabuto gulped as he thought of the hell they were in now; he should have been firmer when he said no, but Orochimaru was ever insistent when he said they had serious work to be done and couldn't afford anymore delays, so he whirled around and threw open the lid against the sergeant's shout to halt - only to be greeted with a strange but mortifying vision.

The coffin was _empty._

 **Dun dun dun...that was frightening as hell. :O Hanaru goes out to find her friend only to get kidnapped and almost raped by the men on horses only to be interrupted by her friend's husband, and he lets her go...only for her to find Manami's corpse as well as a scary man. And Kabuto and Orochimaru get caught by the police only for them all to see the dead man's grave vacant.**

 **What exactly the HELL is going on? Damned good question that will be answered very soon.**

 **Oh, and the sergeant's first name comes from Samon Yotsuya of the famous Japanese legend "Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan" (he is the father of Oiwa).**

 **Reviews appreciated. :S This was so scary to write especially before bed for me.**


	6. What's Going On?

Chapter Six

What's Going On?

This was essentially grave robbing, but here in this town which was clearly covering up this disease by explaining it off as "rain sickness from Ame" or their local "swamp fever" - or just an unknown plague - Orochimaru would take no chances, until he and Kabuto were both caught by the sergeant and senior officer. This was his chance to open the coffin since this was all or nothing...

...only to find no one was inside.

Sergeant Sano and Senior Officer Chiba both looked at the vacant resting place with dismay, mirroring his and his protégé's thoughts. "What the...what is going on, sir?" the sergeant finally managed.

Indeed, what WAS going on? Someone must have dug up the body before they got here, or something else far more sinister was in play, only he couldn't jump to that conclusion without solid proof. Grunting, Orochimaru accepted a helping hand from the sergeant while his former pupil was out with help of the other officer. "Sergeant, I don't know any more than you do," he answered. "But I'm Orochimaru, medical professor and doctor of Konoha. I came out here to aid Dr. Yakushi here, who was the son I never had and the best pupil I've taught. It doesn't need me to tell you that there is something seriously wrong with what is happening here in Otogakure. All these young men dying and now _this._ " He gestured to the empty grave before them.

"Well, some say that it's the marsh fever," Sano said, making him shake his head.

"Marsh snakeskin." Orochimaru scoffed. "In any sense, could a common local fever cause a body to disappear into thin air?" _Absolutely not!_ "Sergeant, it's imperative that we not say a word of this until we know what is exactly going on, including how the body disappeared. That's why we needed it: to open it during the night and examine, if the villagers wouldn't permit." This notion truly disturbed both policemen, but the understanding was there.

And then Sergeant Sano relented. "I'll be honored to help you then, sir. I shall withhold the report on this matter for seventy-two hours, but no more. I dare not do more." He lowered his eyes. "My...boy was one of the first to go."

So, he was going to help for his son's sake. And with three days' time, that would have to do, but that would also mean he and Kabuto would face jail time for months. And just when he was due for retirement pretty soon.

This was going to devastate Hanaru and Manami when this would get back to them, only that meant she had to think of an excuse to give the town when she returned with Ren. Either way would be some months in jail as it was for most parts.

Right now was a mystery to solve.

Kabuto and the policemen were going to finish digging the grave back to its original state, make sure it looked like it hadn't been touched, and he would go back into the house where it was warmer as the night drew colder and darker. But when he got back, there was a flash of headlights; there was only one car in this village. He heard himself gasp as he saw who came stumbling out of the vehicle and falling onto the gravel, exhausted and losing consciousness.

"Hanaru!"

He dove to her side and took her into his embrace, carrying her like a bride and then helping her stand up long enough to reach in to grab the keys out of the engine. She was going to tell him where she'd been, but he could see that she was too exhausted to talk, and Kabuto was busy enough as it was in the cemetery.

The sensation up Orochimaru's spine was colder than the witching hour's hand striking.

~o~

He, the sergeant and his senior officer had just finished filling the vacant grave back to its original state by the time the sky was turning gray with pre-dawn. They were all exhausted, and could really use some sleep now, so he was going back to the house after bidding a good day to the policemen. He could use the sleep, so he trudged right to his room, passing Manami's and passing out instantly.

He wasn't sure how much time passed before he felt the sun on his eyelids, blinding him momentarily until he blinked it away and stretched out until his bones popped and his muscles relaxed. Sighing, he lay there for a few moments. _Just what I needed after hours of digging and then digging the grave back..._

Now his brain was on active alert at the memory of the previous night.

Seventy-two hours...that was all the time they needed to try and figure out what happened to that body. But only he, Orochimaru, the sergeant and senior officer knew of the events, though what if once they were satisfied, the charges could be dropped?

First, he needed a good cup of tea that his sister would make, and Hanaru could do so herself, though he didn't smell it when he came downstairs - and that was when he saw Orochimaru sitting at the kitchen table with a glass of whiskey, and that was unusual for him, given his guardian never downed alcohol at this time of morning, or even if he was under distress. "Kabuto," he said somberly when he saw him come in.

Hanaru and Ren weren't there, and neither was Manami. "Orochimaru, where are the girls and Ren?"

"Hanaru and the boy are still in their room. But I need to tell you about Manami..."

His blood ran cold. Something was wrong that the man wasn't telling him. "What are you saying?" Kabuto demanded, coming in. _Something happened. What the hell was it? Was she...ill?_ If she was, then it was going to be _his_ fault for not seeing it before. And he fell to his knees, but he didn't reach the floor because Orochimaru caught him and helped him sit.

"Hanaru went out last night to find her, said she saw Manami leave. Thought she couldn't have gone far, but...she found her out in the woods. Couldn't even bring her back if she tried." Orochimaru paused to clear his throat, his features tight as if trying not to twist with pain. "She's dead."

"No...no..."

Kabuto moaned and breathlessly sobbed for a long while, leaning into the man who raised him and his sister since they were children, wondering if this was real. The disease without a name had struck over a dozen men, including his best friend, and now it had taken his _baby sister_ from him.

"No, Kabuto, don't blame yourself," Orochimaru insisted, making him look at him, and didn't scold him for the tears he knew were visible and burning his face. "If she's been struck by this disease, it's no fault of yours. For her sake and all of ours, we have to find out about this sickness and destroy it before it gets another!"

~o~

He would have scolded her for leaving her son alone at night, foolishly going out to look for her friend while he and Kabuto were unaware, also knowing that those imbeciles were still out there, but she didn't appear to be harmed in that direction.

She was in and out when he first brought her into the house, choosing to bring her right to his room rather than take her straight to the one she shared with her boy who had not waken up to the commotion. Orochimaru took in her frizzy hair and the dirt that got onto her sweet face which was moist with perspiration. He had to go and get her a wet rag to clean it, and the cold water woke her up enough to nearly jump into hysteria again before he had to slap his hand over her mouth and hiss at her to quiet down.

"Or-Orochimaru," she'd managed as soon as she quieted down.

"Just what were you doing out there at this time of night, your boy alone without us around?" he'd demanded right back, before calming down when she told him everything...only it made his blood boil and then cool down only to freeze like ice.

What she told him could be the stuff of nightmares that couldn't even be true - except he knew it was.

 _Manami left the house without telling anyone where she was going, prompting Hanaru to get into her car to follow her, only to lose her unexpectedly. She gets out of the car to follow where she last saw Manami, but then she gets accosted by a drunken Toshio Matsuda - and those damned fools!_

And to know she was in the presence of her dear friend's strange husband made his spine tingle with greater suspicion, even as Hashimoto pleaded with her to not speak a word of what would have transpired if he had not been there to stop it. And what happened after she left was what made Orochimaru burst inside, and not only the fact that _Manami's corpse_ was thrown to the ground.

 _A man who didn't even_ look _human._

All of this took place at an old mine work that resided near the Hashimoto property. Manami had to still be lying there. "I got so scared I left her there and ran back to the car," Hanaru finished with tears streaking her cheeks. "I'm so ashamed of myself. I should have dragged her back to the car, but..."

He interrupted her, telling her it wasn't her fault, and to calm down - such as rubbing that crystal of hers - before going right to bed so that she could sleep it off, be with her son, and he would tell Kabuto for her. Which was the most difficult thing he had to do besides letting Tsunade go, and because he loved Manami like she was his own daughter.

That was why he let himself have only one drink so early that morning when he knew it wasn't good for the health.

So he told Kabuto what Hanaru told him, and now they were off into the woods, with Sergeant Sano and Senior Officer Chiba in tow - and there lay ahead the mine work, but there was no time to speak of it even when Kabuto said he never knew this place existed. Understandable, given it was hidden in plain sight. _Perhaps the owner hasn't tried reopening it for some reason._

They took the car to make the trip faster and easier, and not only did they find Manami laying where Hanaru said she was, but there also lay Toshio Matsuda, who was drunk as the clouds overhead, filled with rain that they would eventually let down. About ten yards away lay Manami, eyes wide open and some blood splattered about her neck and mouth, the latter which was also slack in a silent scream.

To look at her made Orochimaru's stomach roll, but he held himself together with a face tight with anger, whilst Kabuto turned and vomited onto the grass while Sano, Chiba and Matsuda who now had handcuffs on him - after being awoken to a shock and tried to run on instinct - looked on in mortification.

Orochimaru had no idea whether to believe this or not, but it seemed Toshio Matsuda might have killed Manami in a drunken rage to get back at Kabuto, except in his mind, Hanaru's description of the one who threw her friend down still rang through his mind.

"I'll take him to the station," Sano told him and Kabuto after he, the senior officer and the potential suspect were dropped off, with many of the locals watching the scene and some of them whispering to each other while others could only watch in disbelief, but an obvious lack of surprise in play.

Manami's corpse was in the trunk, though it was a lack of respect in his opinion. They were going to take her to the house for inspection, since they had no other opportunity for a body to operate on and see if the disease took her or if she was truly murdered by hand...

Now they had her laying down across the table. Her eyes had been closed by his hand. There had to still be fingerprints, but while they were found - along with bruises around the throat, indicating that a human hand indeed did the job - there was no way to identify whose it was, and these people had no modern technology for him to do his work; they also hated outsiders coming in and intruding their sanctuary, but only a few people was minor compared to the greater medical field outside.

That meant he and Kabuto were alone in this now.

"...strange."

"Mm?" Orochimaru frowned when he looked up at his former pupil after laying out the surgical tools. Kabuto had his hand against his sister's cold, ashen throat and then checked the hand on the left, and that was when he saw what the young man meant: _no sign of rigor mortis._ That was indeed strange, because after some hours, the stiffening of the muscles would kick in. And several hours had gone by since Hanaru left her poor friend out there in fright. But that wasn't all, when Orochimaru dug further and unwrapped Manami's right wrist, exposing the cut that was still present visibly in her skin.

"She did that some days ago with a piece of glass, maybe," Kabuto answered when he was asked of it. "She was...rather secretive."

 _Very suspicious. But then I suppose it's natural since it could have been an accident, though why do I suspect more...?_

Orochimaru put that question on hold until all of this was seen through, and the next thing he did was take a sample of the blood that was still along her throat, seeing it hadn't come from a throat wound or her mouth, it seemed. There was only one way to find out, so it was dabbed on a cotton ball and placed on a glass slab to slide under the microscope for inspection...

...only to find the cells didn't match any living person to date. It wasn't even human blood, but it couldn't have been an animal's either.

These were _dead blood cells._

Kabuto was dismayed. "H-how could this be?" was all he could manage. "If she wasn't attacked by an animal, and there are no external signs of that - but the bruises around her throat...?"

What, indeed - or _whom._ "Nevertheless, get ready, Kabuto," he said somberly. "And for your sake, let me do the job." Since this was his adopted daughter, he would have to do this in order for the boy's sake, and he had more control over his emotions at this point and time.

Orochimaru picked up the scalpel and threw the sheet over to the other side, exposing the poor girl's expanse of flesh, and began to get to work.

~o~

When she fell asleep after tiredly getting into her night set, all she could see was Manami's corpse and the look on her face. And thank God she didn't wake Ren up - but when he woke her up, he was giddy with excitement. That boy really slept like a log just like his father used to do, except when Itachi was on the field.

"Mum, Mum, get up so Aunt Manami can make us breakfast!" He was jumping up and down, giddy which was just what she wanted to see in him, and it made her happy - but inside, she felt torn apart as soon as she remembered her conversation with Orochimaru.

 _He must have told Kabuto, and now they're working on her - but to see if she got the strange disease?_

She wasn't even a doctor, but she wouldn't be surprised, since this village denied Kabuto authority to have an autopsy. She could imagine the distress since the only available corpse was his own sister. Maybe Orochimaru did it in his stead to spare the trouble. If only she knew the details now...

"I'm afraid there is bad news regarding your Aunt Manami, my boy."

"Orochimaru!" Hanaru sat up quickly, her son sliding back, and both looked up at him to see the strain on his features. The smile that appeared was forced.

"How are you, Hanaru?"

She grunted, stretching herself. "I've been better."

Ren looked at her, confused. "Mum, what's he talking about?" he asked, scrunching his brows. "Mr. Orochimaru?"

The snake-like man sighed, coming into the room and sitting at the foot of the bed. "It's complicated to explain, my boy, but remember what you were told which was going on in this village?" he asked carefully, and Ren's eyes widened. He nodded.

"Yeah, the people dying, but Uncle Kabuto can't figure it out because they won't let him." Orochimaru nodded somberly.

"Well, it appears that the same thing might have happened to Aunt Manami, except when we delved deeper, we found nothing. Outside, it looked like she was sick just like your father - your husband," he added when he looked up at Hanaru, who reached up and held the crystal which felt like ice and turned her flesh and blood into that, "as well as the young men from this village...only inside, it's another story. She was clean as a jewel. And not only that, we found bruises around her throat, which indicates physical strangulation."

In other words: Manami looked like she was sick with the disease, but someone choked her to death.

 _Murder._

Not only that, but if this wasn't some disease, if her poor friend and all the men - including her late husband - died the same way, then what the hell was going on here?!


	7. Haunted

Chapter Seven

Haunted

Mother and son were having a brief, joyful morning moment, but it was evident she awoke just now, and her little boy was asking if Aunt Manami would make them breakfast. She hadn't told him yet.

Now he had to, and in the gentlest way he could, as well as what he and Kabuto found: absolutely nothing in the body, but the bruises around the throat as well as the foreign blood. It would appear she had been murdered by someone else, and that left the man who was arrested and being questioned at this moment.

Which was why he was here.

"You both should get dressed and we can go down to the police station - or rather, Ren, you can stay with Uncle Kabuto until your mother and I return," he said, making the boy pout, but he understood. This was adult business, despite getting older to understand these matters - enough.

But the poor child did break down and cry in his mother's arms, blubbering and wishing that people they loved weren't taken from them. _Including his father._

Kabuto should have gotten rest after a long night and day, but he had to make the funeral arrangements. Word must have gotten out by now what had happened - or a version, at least. And Orochimaru had to go in and hear what Toshio Matsuda had to say for himself, but he also wished Hanaru to be there due to what he said to her yesterday before her little boy.

Moments later, both of them emerged from the room, and Orochimaru confessed to himself that the sight of the beautiful, hot-blooded woman in her ivory dress covered with pale blue roses would take his son's breath away. He'd seen the way Kabuto looked at her, but the boy couldn't let himself go onto his dead best friend's wife like that. It was like Kabuto to think cleanly and decently, but if Orochimaru were right, they could make a great match someday.

They passed by Kabuto's office, and there was the sheet drawn over Manami's body, though red stained through the pure white - a sign of post-surgery. Hanaru said nothing, but she winced and forced herself to look at a weary Kabuto who took off his glasses and glanced their way...and that was when the locking of black to blue irises was noticed by Orochimaru who held his smirk back.

"We're going to the station to speak with the prisoner, Kabuto."

~o~

"Professor - oh, and you must be Mrs. Hanaru Uchiha."

"Yes, I am," she answered, pushing her hair behind her shoulder and going in first, Orochimaru right behind her. "It's nice to meet you, Sergeant." But he laughed lightly and offered his hand for her to shake, telling her to call him Samon if she wanted to, and so it was first names between them.

But then things were grim. "If only we could meet under better circumstances, Hanaru. I heard that you and the professor had a run-in with Toshio Matsuda when you first arrived here in Oto," the sergeant told her as they walked further into the establishment, which was remarkably slick for a police station in a small village.

Hanaru gritted her teeth. "Yes, and he called me a bitch when my child was in our presences!" she snapped. Orochimaru cleared his throat and looked ahead without a word.

"I'm terribly sorry you had to endure that," Sano apologized, "and I'm dreadfully sorry about your husband's death not even a year ago." She thanked him for the condolences, and it was then that they finally reached the main office where the prisoner himself was being kept by Senior Officer Chiba. He was unkempt, and she could smell the liquor on his breath like last night.

Seeing him made her stomach turn and her face twist with disgust. His behavior was just pathetic, and if Sasuke were here, he would say his brother's death did NOT excuse this kind of behavior.

"You," she spat, looking him fair and square. His eyes widened when he recognized her, but his jaw slackened and he could say nothing. She took this opportunity to go right over, raise her opened palm, and crack a blow across one cheek. "That's for last night. And this -" Another blow, this time backhanding his other cheek. "- is for calling me a bitch with my son around!"

The men in the room chuckled, but Sergeant Sano spoke up. "Ahem, if you're done, Hanaru, please let the prisoner give his story."

She scoffed, stepping back away and putting her hands on both hips to show the bastard that she was over him this time, and that he messed with the wrong woman. He literally agreed with his eyes alone - but then she saw the fear which she was sure couldn't be the cause from _her._ "You wouldn't believe me anyway, like the sergeant," Toshio Matsuda said bitterly, lowering his eyes. "He believes I killed your friend, but I swear to you both, I have not! I was drunk, alright, and they found me, so there's no denying it. I swear to the gods I did NOT kill her!"

His insistence was so passionate and sincere that a part of her was inclined to believe it, but before she could speak, Orochimaru did. Low and icy cold. "If you didn't kill my daughter, then explain what you were doing out there," he hissed.

"I don't know. Just to get away from everything, I suppose."

Sergeant Sano towered over him, jaw taut as his words. "You sure you didn't see Manami Hashimoto, Toshio? See her and follow her into the woods? You had a round with her brother in the tavern only yesterday, and there are plenty of witnesses to swear to that. I can only put it to the fact that you wanted your revenge. Now, are you telling the truth?"

"Yes," Toshio insisted, exhausted now. "I'm sure of that, at least."

Hanaru frowned at him; that meant he must have seen someone else, and now her brain was sparking with ideas. _Maybe it was the man I saw..._ "Wait, are you saying you saw...someone else up there?" she asked, getting all the men's eyes on her, especially the suspect himself, who was clearly shocked that she was paying attention to what he was saying.

Toshio glanced down at the floor again. "I did, but none of you would believe me, which is what I tried telling the sergeant." He took a deep breath.

"It was my brother. My brother who's dead and buried out there. I saw him as clearly as I see you all in front of me. He was all...gray and in a shroud, eyes unnatural and staring back..."

You could almost hear a penny drop in the sudden silence. In Hanaru's mind: _the man I saw...he was the man in the coffin?! Well, I know that face wasn't this one's, but if it was his dead brother, how the hell was he up and walking around, and no one saw him until last night?_

"Mr. Matsuda," Orochimaru finally spoke while the rest of them were disbelieved and speechless - especially Hanaru, who was trying to wrack her brains with her own memory, too eerily similar to what this man said. "Your brother is dead."

"I know, sir! Didn't I bury him myself? I know that he's still lying in his coffin," Toshio said. His face fell when all of them said nothing and just exchanged glances with each other. "You don't believe me after all."

"On the contrary, I do believe you." _Orochimaru!_

That answer definitely shocked the man as well as the sergeant and his senior officer. It was Orochimaru to have his reasons, but what exactly was going on in his head? Never mind that, she decided to say her part, unable to bite her tongue. "So do I. Mr. Matsuda, I know what you're talking about."

"Hanaru?" Orochimaru looked surprised, perhaps wondering what she wasn't telling him either. She shook her head, reaching up to rub the raw crystal between her thumb and forefinger.

"I never told anyone this, not even my own brother. Because they would just say that the bereaved widow was projecting in order to cope with her grief."

"You mean you...lost your husband?" Toshio asked, finally regretting how he treated her before. She allowed herself to give him a small smile before going back to serious.

"Yeah, he was one of the men who went out to fight in the Ame civil war. I don't know all the details, but he was shot in the arm; before that, he was very sick, and it was exactly the same as your brother and the others from this village. But Itachi's body vanished before our dear friend, Dr. Yakushi, could perform the autopsy. And there was no body to bury at home in Konoha, either. But to keep a long story short: the morning before yesterday, I left our son at home and went for my morning jog...and I know I saw my husband. It looked like him, yet it wasn't, and he matched the description you gave of your brother."

By the time she was done speaking, she reached up to wipe the corner of her eye which burned.

Orochimaru was rigid as a statue, the emotion of skepticism and consideration seen in his yellow gold eyes. Sergeant Sano and Officer Chiba both glanced at each other, half-inclined to believe the testimony of Jurou Matsuda up and walking around when everyone KNEW he was dead.

As for Toshio Matsuda himself, he was devastated. But he seemed to find sympathy, except that didn't mean he was off the hook, since there was no solid proof beyond their words. And until a conclusion was reached, he was going to spend his time here in this prison.

 _If his brother is dead, how is it that he was seen by us both - just like I know I saw Itachi?_

~o~

He was so tired. He just got done making the funeral arrangements with the priest who came to the house, and Ren really made the old man's day by talking about things back home. Unfortunately, they were back to business in no time.

Now Kabuto felt like he was back to where he started. He'd thought his sister got the illness that afflicted Itachi and the men of this village, but there was nothing in her body indicating malady of any kind. _But I remember that there was no examination on my friend, and I was denied cutting open the dead here._

 _But that doesn't mean anything. I have to keep an open mind that something CAUSED all of this. My friend and all of us got dragged into this mess. However..._

Those times when he thought he saw his deceased friend and comrade, husband of the woman of his secret affection, he thought he was going crazy after everything. Looking down at Ren, seeing his father's features, he convinced himself that he wasn't seeing any hallucinations.

Orochimaru and Hanaru came back in no time, and what they had to tell him was enough to make him nearly fall out of his chair. And to list it off like this:

Toshio Matsuda was arrested for suspicion of Manami's murder, though there stood the testimony that, despite his drunken state, he saw his dead brother before his eyes - and Hanaru also said she saw the same man, when she hadn't had a drink that night.

But she also dropped the bombshell in that she thought she saw Itachi the day Orochimaru came to see her and Ren. Kabuto understood why she never breathed a word until now.

A new thought came to his mind: _if it's true, what if they were both never dead to begin with, and just stayed hidden for some reason?_

He didn't mention this at all, unsure until he heard more evidence.

Now he, Orochimaru and Sergeant Sano were out, Hanaru back at the house with Ren. The three men were at the mining site where his beloved sister's carcass was found - and where Jurou Matsuda supposedly was. In broad daylight with the wheel of the mill turning in clockwise. Kabuto could hardly believe that he never knew of this place's existence! "What do they mine here, Sergeant?" he asked.

"Silver, Doctor. There is a rich vein that runs down here which is worth quite the fortune."

Now, if that were true, then there had to be a rational explanation as to why no one seemed to pay attention to this place, and why it fell into decay the way it did. Ivy creeped up and around, other shrubs without a sign of life paying tribute to a lost, prosperous time - but _someone_ was down beneath these grounds, getting that wheel running.

Orochimaru asked Sano the reason for the state of this site. "Well, there's been a lot of accidents many years ago, Orochimaru. Miners were killed and maimed, and in the end, they wouldn't go down there again, claiming it was bad luck." He managed to crack a grin. "Old bailiff was furious, but he had no choice but to shut it down."

"Has Hashimoto tried to reopen it?" Orochimaru asked, bringing up the man himself. The one who owned this property - and the one who had been his brother-in-law, and hadn't yet visited Kabuto for not telling him of his wife's death.

Admittedly, Kabuto had his reasons for not breaking the news to the man, since his suspicions were still in place. If her death took place on these grounds, then he had reason to hold Hideo responsible for now. Maybe he was being too petty.

"Oh, no. He'd need the money for that, and I can't rightly say where he gets it now. He was away when his father died, in foreign parts - somewhere in the Caribbean. Then he was abroad to serve in the civil war where some of our young men have gone."

 _That's right...he was there, where Itachi died and four of the Oto victims supposedly contracted the disease and brought back here._

So, here was the story as soon as Hideo Hashimoto came home with a new bride, his Manami, in tow: he was left the house, unpaid bills, and then shut himself up without seeing anyone except his wife. And soon after, there were young people about spending money like water.

Kabuto suppressed a grimace at how _creepy_ all of this was. From the way the sergeant was speaking, it was implied that this old mine was _haunted_ , but he was certain that his former brother-in-law had something to do with this, because it wasn't a coincidence in the slightest...


	8. Witchcraft and Walking Dead

**So, chapter title is an allegory, but no direct spoilers. Just keep reading and you'll have your answers here. :D**

 **Soon I'll reveal the movie which inspired me to do this horrifying and twisted story!**

Chapter Eight

Witchcraft and Walking Dead

She decided that she and Ren were going to do some yoga until the men returned, and they both needed it to take their minds off everything that happened - especially her.

However, before that could happen, she decided that she would start to clean this house a little bit since poor Manami was too exhausted before to do much, except before she could start to do a thing to it, the door was knocked on, making her frown. _Who could be here at this time of day?_

Ren was in their room, playing his hand-held video game, when she answered the door, and to her surprise, Hideo Hashimoto himself stood there, finely pressed and grave. "May I come in?" he inquired.

He must have been here regarding his wife, whom he had not been told ahead of time about, so she agreed, stepping aside. "I'm so sorry about Manami," Hanaru said. "Everything happened during the night, and after our last meeting -"

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Hanaru," he interrupted, not rudely. "I did come here to speak to my brother-in-law, since it was my right to know first because that was my wife." Now there was a slight trace of anger there in his eyes, before it was misted over. "Since you lost your husband, you understand my feelings."

Hanaru had no idea if she should be insulted, because after all, he didn't know of what would have happened to her, and he sent her off unharmed. "Kabuto is out," she said, ignoring the last statement altogether. "But I wish I could say when he would return. So, for now I'm caring for things."

"Ah, yes. Well, I'll seek him on my own time, so that I can speak with him regarding my wife."

It was then that she noticed the obvious sorrow on his face, the perfect image of a bereaved widower, but she thought it was...strange that he didn't _sound_ like he was grieving. Plus, if he was the overseer of this village, he would have straight forward confronted the brother of his wife, the village doctor, and prevented Kabuto from performing the autopsy beforehand. _To which nothing had been found._ And what he said next was enough to make her huff with outrage: "I came here because I wanted to...see you, to know if you still refuse to see my face after last night." The way he said it sounded like it was a breathy lover's confession.

"I loved Manami very much, and she was a breath of fresh air I never knew in my life. I spent much of my life away from this village, but then I met her during a war of all times, and she was everything I knew I wanted. Now I have lost her, and I know how you must feel as much as Kabuto." He lowered his eyes. "But after all of this, as much as it risks jeopardizing what is possible, I would like to see you more after the funeral, if you would permit."

In other words: he thought to come to attempt to _court_ her in light of her best friend's death, not even bothering to ask her if she saw Manami lying out there before today! He never thought to ask her if she was faring before he thought of the wife he claimed to love so much. Livid as she was, Hanaru had to keep cool for now and tread the waters carefully. "Thank you for the offer and the condolences, but don't you wish to share those other words besides me alone?" she asked.

"Oh, well, indeed, you are right, Hanaru," Hashimoto answered, a slight smile present before vanishing. "But as you know, Kabuto never liked me very much. Understandably since I prefer keeping away from others. To keep a long story short, I spent much of my life abroad while my father ran this village. I returned after the civil war in Ame ended and my father dead by the time. And other than that, secret as I live - which means that there still were matters Manami was better off not knowing about me - in order to be popular amongst a village now under my care, one must conform. Complying with rules after living free of restraints has been difficult for me."

He just admitted that he hid more than he let on, that not even his wife knew. And that living according to society's ways was something that he happened to object to. "Well, at least you're honest," Hanaru said. _Just like Itachi was._

"Honesty is perhaps my only virtue, my dear. I'm always honest - even with myself. I want to be honest with you."

Was it her imagination, or had the room gotten a little warmer - and did it have to do with the fact she was staring into his eyes, seeing more and more of her late husband in him? _And look at that strong jaw, the nose and cheekbones - but not much like Itachi, to be exact._ She'd always been wary of him, Manami always spoke so little other than how wonderful he was while Kabuto was more spiteful...but now she found herself leaning towards her dead friend's words simply because of the feeling she was getting from one source which was her husband's eyes, his honest words, and the warmth of the crystal around her neck.

 _No, I don't think I can jump the gun. Because I still love Itachi, and there is also my son whose approval I would need on this, but that won't be easy because his godfather and Orochimaru both don't hold Hideo with high regard._

Hanaru had thought she was going to just spend her life "happily" single and devoting her life now to her son, their friends and loved ones but keep Itachi's memory alive, though here she was in this house which belonged to his late wife and her brother, Ren still in the other room and hadn't come out, and the raw stone she acquired the day she got her man was pulsing as if telling her that she should go for it, and she reached for it...

...but as soon as her hand came up to close around it, she winced when she felt her skin burn. That was normally an unsettling sign, but this time it was also coupled with a twinge that made her feel a certain way that began the first time she saw Itachi at that auction in the very same town which would one day become the warzone that took him from her.

"Oh, perhaps it is best that I take my leave for now." Hashimoto cleared his throat and was turning away, breaking her out of her trance. _How did he manage to distract me like that?! Damn it!_ "But before I go, could I trouble you for a quick glass of water?"

"Yes, of course," Hanaru answered politely, quickly turning away and making way for the kitchen, letting him follow her. She picked up a glass from the cupboard and turned on the faucet - and his question behind her startled her.

"It's strange to ask at a time like this, but I wish to know: do you believe in...life after death, Hanaru?"

 _Life after death...as in what form? Spiritual? Or...?_ "That's quite the odd question, you're right, when we're still akin to strangers," she said, turning around and staring into his intense dark eyes again. She was offering the glass to him, and his hand came to simply wrap around it without taking the glass from her hand.

His smile was very uncanny. "I was hoping you'd no longer consider me a stranger."

And no longer a stranger just because they both knew the pain of losing someone you were supposed to be bound to for life?

Against her better judgment and almost giving into that urge of hers which hadn't existed since her husband died, Hanaru replied back, "Then the answer is I do believe in it." Because she could never stop wondering about that strange, scary form that looked like her late spouse but couldn't be...and the fact the one who killed Manami could be the one from the coffin...

"As do I. Very much."

He'd drank down the small glass, but when he went to set it down on the counter behind her, somehow it slipped and fell to the ground, shattering and leaving the biggest behind. "Oh, clumsy of me!" Hideo swore and knelt down at the same time she did - and Hanaru hissed when she felt the skin of her right forefinger slice painfully as soon as he tried to take it from her.

Why did she have to be so stupid to pick it up when he was going to? Before she could say a word, he was picking up a small vial and taking some of her blood which was starting to drip, and he didn't take the little thing away until she stopped bleeding enough. "Pardon me, but this is going to prevent infection. A method we still use today," he explained. "And my fault for being clumsy. I let myself be...distracted..."

She knew what he meant, as she was wrapping her finger around in the bandage he offered from the inside of his coat: _distracted by my face, what else?_

Her skin burned as her heart jumped a couple times against her sternum when he called her a brave, beautiful woman who endured anything.

He was gone before Ren came out of the room, but she made damned sure to hide the bandaged cut - for now. When the men got home, they were going to ask what happened, and she would tell the truth, but oddly leave out the visit of Hideo Hashimoto.

When they did return, she inquired about their "walk", and then they all sat down so that Kabuto did most of the talking: that mine was owned by Hideo Hashimoto - or rather, it was once owned by his father before him. It was a silver mine, worth a vast amount of money, but no one in the village would work down there since years ago when there were many accidents and deaths. It had been shut down since, and apparently the new bailiff himself hadn't tried reopening it.

 _He was gone when his father died, somewhere in the Caribbean, but other than that, no one knows anything about him. And then these young people go spending money as if it were their last day on this earth...only to be for some._

Suddenly, she was scared, and it got worse that evening when she decided to visit her friend's corpse in the funeral home next door.

Kabuto arranged for his sister to be buried in a white blouson gown, which was similar to the same-colored kimonos the dead of Japan were often buried in, and was also traditional for vengeful spirits in kabuki plays. But to look upon her pallid face made her flinch, fight not to cry again when she actually wasn't going to, not until tomorrow.

The reason she was here, besides to say good bye, was to check something out which lay on her friend's right wrist, which she remembered vividly but had scant knowledge. _Manami said it was just a cut, but not why..._

And there it was, the dark red gash thin but deep into the skin.

Gasping sharply, Hanaru closed her hand - the one with the bandaged finger - into a fist and hurried out of the room to get back to the house. She wasn't sure if she would be able to sleep tonight. The crystal was starting to heat a little more than usual, bordering on heating pad temperature.

She really didn't want to think about this, because she had to convince herself it was all just a coincidence...right?

~o~

As far as Orochimaru was concerned, for the bereaved husband to not show up at his own wife's funeral was far more gravely suspicious than the story that was known about him. After today, the doctor was going to get to the bottom of it once and for all.

He had gotten lucky when he heard that the priest of Otogakure - the kindly man who assured him and Hanaru that the accident involving Jurou Matsuda's coffin being thrown off the bridge wasn't their fault - had a splendid collection of books on a variety of subjects, but besides religious and pleasurable purposes, there was no mentioned of what was on Orochimaru's mind. _Which is why I intend to ask him after the services._

He watched along with Kabuto, Hanaru, Ren and a handful others who genuinely supported the doctor and his sister as the casket was lowered into the earth, sprayed with white flowers of purity and peace. But those who weren't fond watched from a distance from the cemetery out of a sense of obligation and their beliefs.

But then he noticed something peculiar but said nothing, and Kabuto, too.

They both saw Hanaru reach up and stumble where she was standing, nearly falling into him, and the scene caused a pause in the service, to which Kabuto apologized to the priest and everyone else. But young Ren was worried, constantly asking his mother if she was all right. Smiling, Orochimaru reached down and put his hand on the child's shoulder, assuring him she was. Although his psyche said otherwise.

 _She cut her finger._

All the more reason he would use the priest's library, and when he requested the specifics, he was surprisingly allowed. That meant confiding in the man of religion as he browsed every book there was.

And what he found in this specific book carried a word to describe what Hanaru and Toshio Matsuda - who was still in police custody - claimed to see in different forms. _And Kabuto, as well._

The word which originated in the Caribbean, dating back to West Africa to be exact - actually, two of them. One of them worshipped as a religion but also used to drive fear and control into slavery, which brought the second that was originally a fetish and described something godlike...only to describe as a person whose soul was taken from them.

 _Voodoo...black magic...and zombies._

~o~

He hadn't had a drink at all, which was unlike himself. Hanaru and Ren were so tired they both washed up and had a light dinner before going to bed. In fact, he couldn't sleep himself.

Kabuto found himself troubled when he wondered about the fact that Hanaru's finger cut coincided with his sister's before she died, but he couldn't find any links. In the end, he wondered why on earth that would mean anything. And then his brain clicked; why hadn't he thought of it before?

 _The victims of the plague...they all had a cut to their hands, fingers and wrists._

At the same time he finally arrived at the conclusion, he heard the door open, and in strolled Orochimaru along with the priest. "Still awake, Kabuto?" his guardian asked with a forced smile. "Good, because I spent the afternoon making progress that could finally help us."

Kabuto perked up. He meant - he meant he spent all those hours since darkness fell looking for some answers that he didn't think to consult with him? But it was like the only father he ever knew to look places that meant going solo first. "What did you find?" Kabuto asked, sharing a glance with the priest, seeing the man beyond uneasy.

"Have you ever heard of voodoo?"

 _V-VOODOO?!_

"It's a form of witchcraft, isn't it?" Where was this going now, that Orochimaru had to turn to the topic of black magic when medicine reached a dead end? When they cut open Manami's body, there was nothing except a normal, healthy human being. But she also displayed the symptoms of the others before her, Itachi as well even though he was never found.

Back to the subject of voodoo. Here in Japan was a similar ritual called _ushi no toki mairi_ , which involved pins and straw dolls of the target, and all performed notably by a woman scorned in white and a crown of iron and candles, performing the ceremony in the early hours of the morning. But Orochimaru said straight up _Caribbean voodoo,_ not their country's derivation and unrelated version.

"Yes, Kabuto. It's practiced in the Caribbean - specifically Haiti." Orochimaru sat down across him at the table, the priest following. "Now, given this is my other specialty besides medicine, I find all kinds of witchcraft fascinating, others slightly nauseating, but this..." His face twisted. "I find this one absolutely _disgusting._ In fact, you'll have to permit me to take my time to explain, because the poor priest would rather be ignorant in these matters." _No offense to you, priest._

And so it went: "Well, Hanaru says that she saw something out there in the forest, near that old mine of the bailiff's. Says she saw something that was a man and yet...not a man. Description fit that of what she believes she saw of Itachi, whom we know was dead but then his body disappeared. Which leads me to this." He stood then and there to pace the room for a moment before continuing.

"It just so happens that she identified the 'walking corpse' who supposedly killed Manami as Toshio Matsuda's brother - who also claims he saw something near that location...something he insists WAS his brother. But we know his brother is dead, and that he is not lying in his coffin."

Which could mean one answer, which was logical enough, because it happened quite a few times that he knew of: that Jurou was buried alive, somehow freed himself and was just out there, in shock and confused about what happened to him. But when he saw this, Orochimaru scoffed and shook his head, tightly smiling. "But, Kabuto, I told you that I've seen him, and so has Hanaru and her poor boy. And the look on the lad's face, eyes wide open and rolled up into the skull, jaw slack opened - it's just as normal as any corpse I've seen, so buried alive is not the answer," Orochimaru answered. "Which brings me to this connection: someone in this village is practicing voodoo."

 _Someone is practicing the dark arts here in Oto..._

He had no idea how to think or feel about this, because he was a man of science and not magic. Those days were folktales, turning into alchemy which in turn became science as they all knew it today. But Orochimaru insisted, knowing better than anyone else, even him.

"And that corpse wandering the woods and those mines is...an undead. A zombie."

"It's...incredible!" Kabuto exclaimed, shocked to his core by the possibility that was slowly trying to worm its way to his mind. "I still don't understand how a man of science like yourself could even believe this!" _Much less_ balance _it with logic and reason!_

He found himself thinking back to the Chinese version of the zombie, known as the _Jiangshi,_ which meant "stiff corpse", and it was a kind of hybrid between vampire and zombie - victims of murder, suicide, and those whose souls couldn't exit their bodies for the afterlife. And their appearances were rotten and moldy, covered with "white fur" as well as bearing long white hair, completely different from their recent, normal dead look. As for how they traveled, it was silent hopping and going great distances.

But Orochimaru spoke nothing of this kind.

"I even spent the afternoon catching up on reading the subject in the priest's library. There's so much more than what I have just explained, and it's all there, clear and scientifically stated as far as I am concerned."

Well, the elder's experience overruled, right? But that wasn't all. Kabuto had wanted his help, so he got it, whether it was against his common sense or not. "Well, then, what can be done?" he asked, needing a drink now after all of this.

Orochimaru was grim now. "About Matsuda's brother? Nothing." He didn't mention it, but Itachi was possibly on the agenda. "I'm thinking of Manami."

 **And so you have the answer as to what the movie is: "The Plague of the Zombies" (1966) - one of Hammer's finest films ever made. Its imagery and such inspired not only George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" which came around only two years later, but many other zombie films that came after.**

 _ **Ushi no toki mairi**_ **("ox-hour shrine-visit") is a Japanese method of placing a curse upon a targeted human being, called the way it is because it takes place during the hours of the Ox (between 1 and 3 AM). The practitioner** **is usually** **a scorned woman** **clad** **in white and** **crowned** **with an iron ring set with three lit candles upright,** **and she** **hammers nails into a sacred tree of the Shinto shrine. In modern-da** **y** **, the nails are driven through a straw effigy of the victim** **(voodoo doll)** **impaled upon the tree behind it.** **The ritual must be repeated seven days running, after which the curse is believed to succeed, causing death to the target,** **but being witnessed in the act is thought to nullify the spell.** **(Wikipedia)**

 **The** _ **Jiangshi**_ **is the Chinese version of the zombie as Kabuto describes.**

 **BUURRRHHHH, I had shivers up my spine when I wrote this, but the worst is coming in the next chapter. Review and stay tuned!**


	9. Rise From the Grave

**If anyone didn't know, I've done two zombie fics before this one: "Zombie Brother" and "I Walked With a Zombie" (the latter which is a retelling of a movie of the same name, and the former which is of "Ritual", a Tales From the Crypt movie which is an authorized remake of "I Walked With a Zombie").**

 **Depending on the time zone for each and every one of you, night time might be best to read this, or if not, then brace yourself for greater terror unleashed!**

Chapter Nine

Rise From the Grave

In all his research on voodoo and witchcraft outside Japan, he'd never known anything as vile and disgusting as this. Here in his country, the ritual which involved the hour of the Ox was considered a mild abomination for jilted women, but to raise someone from the dead for personal reasons was a violation of the laws of nature.

In Haiti, sorcerers known as _bokor_ refused to leave the dead in peace, or at least afflicted the living into making them believe they were dead. Then they would be stripped of their identities and made into workers, commonly. If the being was truly dead, then revival often involved the use of blood or something else natural and unholy. Tetrodotoxin from the pufferfish was the simplest and most frightening way to turn a person into a zombie.

So, a cure for the living but brainwashed was possible, except if they were dead, they had to be released from the spell somehow. And when that happened, either the dead would lay to rest and the living run free again - or they would wreak vengeance against their master first.

Which was why Orochimaru was willing to believe this and Kabuto had no choice but to follow him. The evidence of two sensible human beings was all they needed.

 _All those young men from this village, a handful who served in Ame, and Itachi...they were all victims of voodoo sorcery. And someone brought it here from the Caribbean; there is only one person who could have done this._

Which was why he, Kabuto and the priest were going to stay at Manami's grave until daybreak. Should the voodoo priest and his followers come to attempt to desecrate her resting place, they would all be ready. Orochimaru only prayed he was wrong, when he was positive it was the opposite.

In midst of protecting the grave which was finished during the day, Orochimaru was getting tired to his bones, as was his former protégé, ending with the priest whom he suggested head on home since it was very late. The hour of the Ox approached, ironically enough. If they were lucky, perhaps Sergeant Sano and the senior officer would come by and see what was happening again. Orochimaru considered giving them his insight and the research which wasn't much proof in itself, because they needed something rock-hard...

However, not long after the priest left, both men heard shouts not too far away. _The priest!_

Someone had come up to the man and assaulted him, resulting in him and Kabuto leaving the cemetery to find out what had happened - and some yards later, they found him slouched against the wall in an alleyway. "My God, are you all right?!" Kabuto exclaimed, kneeling down to help the man stand up.

"I...I think so. Men in worn cloaks and demon's masks came and attacked me..."

 _Someone is onto us. This attack was meant to be a diversion._

Which meant that they, by now, had to be at the gravesite and digging up the spot so they could take the body away. But first, they had to hurry and get the priest back to the house, which was three more doors down. Job done and a good night to the man, he whirled to Kabuto. "We must get back. This was part of a ploy."

They were running back, taking shortcuts, and the younger man jumped over gates to make it faster - before they finally arrived at the cemetery in time to see the small group of cloaked men as described, all wearing masks to prevent identification. Orochimaru bared his teeth in a grimace at what clever bastards they were, but now there was a bigger issue to worry about: the grave was laid open, the condolences flowers strewn about without care, and the coffin revealed the body was left in place. _They heard us coming and left her as she is._

It was only a small comfort which was gone as quickly as it came. Only there was a terrible feeling when Manami had been exposed here. And he and Kabuto saw it all happen in what seemed like an eternity when it was but a few moments, so unnatural that this did not happen in nature itself.

Slowly - _very_ slowly - the face began to change: the skin darkened to ashen gray, cracking in places. The hair began to dry and stick together. Other than that, the visage was as human as it could remain - except for the eyes when the lids flew open, revealing two black holes centered with white circles.

The word slipped out of Orochimaru's mouth in a harsh whisper, but Kabuto couldn't utter a word as he watched the same thing.

" _Zombie._ "

"Oh, God," Kabuto finally uttered in sheer horror as the thing spotted them and slowly sat up in the place where it laid. _It_ because that walking shell was no longer Manami.

That same blank gaze remained on the face as it rose up in rigid, straight up motions. The arms bent at the elbows as it hoisted itself out of the casket and began to crawl forward, out of the ditch. The pitless eyes never left both men who backed away with each advancement. If neither of them did anything, she would remain a slave to the man who did this to her - and one of them would be dead until the other killed her himself. "Or-Orochimaru," Kabuto moaned, backing into a railing that was attached to the stairs.

The poor boy wouldn't be able to do what was on his mind. But it would weigh on Orochimaru's memory for the rest of his life because this "girl" had been the daughter he never had -

\- but looking upon her now and loathing the man responsible, he would have to do this. He nearly tripped on that solution just as "Manami" walked closer and closer, a sadistic smile stretching across "her" face...

He picked up the shovel that had been abandoned on the earth of this sacred place. Picking it up, Orochimaru held back a shout of anger, anguish and frustration when he swung with all his might towards the living corpse who was once his daughter, his apprentice's sister, and the best friend of his beloved's granddaughter.

The head of Manami fell to the ground while the body turned into the opposite direction. The sight made him drop the shovel and fight to swallow down the bile that was threatening to leave his body.

Kabuto had turned his head away when his own sister was beheaded, but now he looked over his shoulder to see the decapitated corpse and its severed head, but with nausea and stress seen on his face, he slid down against the barred railing and passed out.

Orochimaru stared at him for a moment before he left him to retrieve the priest from his home.

~o~

His sister...his own sister beheaded...

 _That wasn't Manami. It_ looked _like her, but it wasn't her._

Those horrible eyes - he was never going to sleep again after this night. Which was why he fainted and fell to the ground after Orochimaru was forced to kill her, and he cursed himself for being such a coward. Except he knew he never could have recovered from doing such a thing; taking a life on purpose was not something he was made for - unless the patient was too hopeless to pull out of their vegetable state.

Grimacing and aching in every bone within his body, Kabuto pulled himself up on the railing he had been laying against, then looked around only to see a fog forming in the air, blocking some parts of his surroundings, giving it the appeal of a traditional western Halloween scene. Orochimaru wasn't anywhere around. _Could he have gone to get help and not come back yet?_ It didn't make sense that he would just leave him like this.

Unless he was finally apprehended by Sergeant Sano based on the promise, but then again, that couldn't be, since not even three days had expired.

Add in that seeing Manami's grave was restored to its original state, as if it hadn't been touched, only the flowers lay strewn across the ground - and the headless remains of his sister still lay out in the open. The head itself lay a couple feet or so away from its owner, the eyes wide open and white, devoid of any life. The mouth was a wordless scream.

 _Why would her grave be dug back into place, but her body and head left out like this?!_

He would get no answers before he spotted an action that caused the hairs on the back of his neck to rise, his spine to freeze, and his heart to thump murderously. And it happened with each grave that was untouched, not counting Manami's.

From beneath one with freshly dug dirt, there was movement in every direction - and then a _bare foot_ stuck out from the south end.

Another resting spot which was honored with fresh ivory and purple flowers broke apart by two hands that penetrated the soils - two hands which looked healthy until you looked closer and saw the gray decay. A similar thing happened with the grave which was two places further down...only the FACE followed at the head where the marker was placed.

This continued until all thirteen graves loosened to spew forth the fiends that looked human, but were _not._ All of them had the same charcoal, scabbed flesh and onyx-black eyes, clad in rags rather than normal burial garments. He recognized the faces of these rotting automatons - and they were all the young men of this village who died from the so-called plague.

A plague which was man-made, controlled by someone from behind the scenes.

He knew he should just run, but an unseen force was keeping him in place because of looking upon their faces as well as gazing deep into their soulless, desperate eyes. Their movements were stiff and jerky as they preyed his way, reaching out as if pleading...but their intent to kill was present, but he couldn't tell because he was so scared.

By the time you recognized these things weren't human, it was too late, and no matter if you couldn't be here anymore, something was keeping you in place.

One of the zombies stepped past his dead sister's severed head, brushed past the wreath that was left at her grave by her husband - the bailiff Hideo Hashimoto who never bothered coming to mourn his wife.

They were all coming closer and closer, forming a tight group and backing him further away...only for his back to hit something solid as well as a pair of hands to wrap around his throat and bring him down to his knees. Such powerful strength to trap him and make him look back and up to his captor...

...only to look into the face of _ITACHI._

He heard himself screaming and jerking forward.

"KABUTO!"

His heart was roaring in his chest, going to his eardrums and deafening him before everything was clear to his senses as his vision was. He found he wasn't in the graveyard, but also in his own room. And surrounding him was not only Orochimaru, but the priest as well as - "Hanaru!"

"Yes, we're here," she said softly, holding up a cold, wet rag to his brow and dabbing it. He sighed at the pleasant feeling coursing through his skin, at both the care and the feel of her own skin. "You just had a nightmare." But then her tone hardened when she told him that he fainted, and Orochimaru as well as the priest brought him back.

"What happened with Manami?" _Oh, Manami..._

"Her grave was disturbed, my dear," the priest told her gently, but she didn't buy it in the slightest.

"Oh, that's obvious enough. But why were you both out there in the first place, without going far to bring up witchcraft in the mix?"

Orochimaru sighed heavily. "My dear, you know it is true, because you, too specialize if not the same as I. Even your crystal can feel it," he insisted. _They've been talking since before I woke up._

She exhaled and shook her head. She was tired from everything. "Okay, fine, let's pretend for real that voodoo brought back my dead husband, all these men as well as Toshio Matsuda's brother - and now Manami." Kabuto frowned at her; it wasn't like her to be so agitated, because he always knew her to be clear-headed and reasonable...until he saw it. He saw the dark circles under her eyes, then looked down at the bandage around her finger.

 _Don't tell me..._

The priest cleared his throat, getting them both back to attention and to the subject of Manami. "She's been buried, son. She'll be at peace now, and I gave her absolution."

But the idea of "rest in peace" didn't seem so appealing now, not with what he saw that he never thought he'd believe, as well as the vivid dream he'd had, leaving him sweating from every pore he had that Hanaru noticed and continued to wipe away.

"What happened in your dream, Kabuto?" Orochimaru asked as soon as the priest was gone, announcing he had to return to his shrine. Sighing, he laid back and felt the words effortlessly leave his lips.

"I dreamt I saw...the dead rise. All those faces who I failed to save from this village - and Itachi's. All the graves opened, releasing them, and the coffins were empty..."

Hanaru dropped the rag back into the bowl, splattering water on her soft dress, while Orochimaru was stricken.

~o~

 _All the graves opened...coffins empty..._

 _The dead have risen._

Here he was now, this morning and back with the sergeant and his senior officer. They had exhumed every grave - all thirteen of them - and found every single one vacant as Jurou Matsuda's. Samon Sano was furious and looked up at Orochimaru, but not targeting him like the first time. "For heaven's sake, where are they?!"

His anger had risen not only because of the missing corpses, but also because his son's was among them, not that he blamed the man. _If he had seen what I have..._

Once again, Orochimaru had no answer, but he had to lie at least this once. And for now, it was imperative none of them say a word as to what happened here, and that they fill the graves in before anyone else was disturbed. Once the task was completed, he informed both men they were going back to the station so he could finally fill them in on theories based on "careful research" - and to bring it to the attention of the prisoner who was still in custody.

But when they arrived, the prison cell was busted and the prisoner himself missing. "He's gone, Sergeant!" Chiba exclaimed as if it wasn't obvious enough, much to his superior's annoyance.

"Of course, anyone can see that. The question is how he got out." Without so much as the use of anything in the cell, and to jump to the conclusion that he got help from the outside would be unwise.

"The question is," Orochimaru stated grimly, " _where_ has he gone? Has he joined...the others?"

He felt it wise to drop the hint, subtle and discernible, that Toshio Matsuda was next in line who would join the undead ranks. But Sano mistook the clue for another meaning. "The others, sir? I doubt he'd be dead -"

"Not dead yet, Sergeant," Orochimaru answered, "but he soon will be."

Prior to now, it had to be likely that Matsuda had visitors before today, and that there would be no exceptions. But Officer Chiba said that the imprisoned had no visitors - except the bailiff himself. "And what happened?" Orochimaru demanded, getting somewhere now.

"Well, all they did was talk. I didn't stay to listen, though."

"And they just talked? Nothing else?" He was going to press even if it aggravated one or both men - and his persistence paid off, as always.

Hashimoto and Matsuda did just talk, until the bailiff himself requested a glass of water for the prisoner who said he was thirsty...except the glass was now gone, having been broken. "Did _you_ break it?" the sergeant asked, narrowing his eyes.

Chiba shook his head. "No, sir. The bailiff did."

Now Orochimaru had all the pieces: Hashimoto came by to "recruit" Toshio Matsuda, but what use did he have for all the once dead men... _no, wait. The answer is simple: it lies in the supposedly abandoned silver mines._ And when young Matsuda cut himself on a broken glass, Manami's widower had a blood sample, which explained how Manami ended up the way she did, and likely Toshio's brother before him.

"Sergeant, Senior Officer...there isn't much time, but we should sit down and talk."

So they did, and all the while, Orochimaru's mind and heart were weighing heavily with a great new fear for the one he was sure would be next on this devilish list on the whim of one man.

 _Hanaru is in grave danger._

 **If anyone didn't understand, Kabuto did faint after seeing his zombie sister beheaded, and the dead rising from their graves was a dream before he catapulted back to reality. Ugh, cold shivers. And I'd written this at night.**

 **Review please! :D**


	10. Power of Blood

**Ten days till Christmas. :D I'm hyped up and can't wait to see what I got - and I also can't wait for the family to see what I got them.**

Chapter Ten

Power of Blood

She denied what Orochimaru said at first because of logic in the modern world, but he'd also seen and done things few could comprehend to prove it. She knew he was telling the truth, because she'd seen two supposedly dead men briefly, crystal clear.

 _Orochimaru and Kabuto watched Manami's resting place with the priest until daybreak, but when the priest was heading home, he was attacked by masked men, and when they got back...she came back to life. She fit the description of Itachi and Matsuda's brother._

The crystal pulsed hotter this time, telling her she should believe them no matter her words of denial. She wasn't a strong believer in the supernatural, but Orochimaru was hardly ever wrong. And she was glad she wasn't there to be traumatized any more than she was, only she couldn't say the same for Kabuto watching what happened to his own sister. _But still, for her head to be cut off before his eyes like that..._

Her heart broke when she saw him the way she did, when she tended to him as he slept, and when he catapulted to awareness after having that nightmare - of the dead rising from their graves.

Hanaru knew she should say they should get out of this horrible place, out of this village of the undead, if you could call it that. People who were supposed to be dead were being seen by their loved ones, but no one else in Oto reported such things that she knew of.

 _Someone here is practicing black magic, but what use of the zombies?_

From what she remembered, zombies raised from the dead were typically used as slaves or something - far different than the gory, fast-moving tropes since America's 1960s with _Night of the Living Dead_. Such other known horror movies like _White Zombie_ provided an example. But to think that her _husband_ and that man at the mills...and Manami almost...

Who could be behind this abomination?!

Orochimaru went out again, leaving her with Kabuto and Ren. As always, her son was playing his game, but this time Uncle Kabuto was joining him. And during that time while she thought to get lunch ready, she watched the scene with a much warmer sensation than she ever remembered - especially when Kabuto sometimes lifted his eyes and smiled at her.

It was then that she finally recognized that look in his eye, during this very moment: not only was that admiration and simple adoration, but something much deeper than she ever cared to notice, which made her feel confused as well.

 _Kabuto is in love with me._

How long had he been? And why didn't he ever say a word before? She could only think that he respected his best friend and her wishes, willing to let them be happy even if it meant keeping his own heart locked away.

She didn't know how to approach him, but before she could do that, she needed to think about this. Itachi was revived in the most unholy way possible, and others like him, so that was more important, and he must have known that. She appreciated that -

Her thoughts were broken off when she heard the door open, and her name was called. "Orochimaru?" Hanaru called back, confused at the desperation she heard in his voice. "What's going on?" Kabuto and Ren stopped what they were doing and looked up to see what was happening.

He looked grave and haggard, as if whatever happened put more strain on him than ever before. Though he couldn't say it in front of Ren who was still too young to understand - or experience it enough to want to talk to other kids at school about it. "Oh, nothing that you should worry about. But let's say I am closer than expected," he said simply with a smile, though she saw the tension in his eyes. He was hiding something from her. "And tonight the sergeant and I are going to handle it all once and for all. Kabuto, there's no need for you to be involved."

 _You know who is behind the deaths and revival of the dead, but you won't tell me._ Hanaru had no idea whether to be relieved or mad that he couldn't trust her with the perpetrator - unless there wasn't real proof he had yet and was going to find it with the help of the sergeant like he said.

And by telling Kabuto to stay here, it seemed like he hinted SHE was in danger...and now she had a name to herself, unless she was wrong. Looking at her bandaged finger was proof.

~o~

He couldn't tell her everything because he didn't want to scare her.

But tonight, he swore, it would end because they'd come too far.

It hadn't been easy to explain the story to Sergeant Sano and his senior officer. Much less bring up _voodoo magic_ and the dead...

"If what you say is true, then that must mean my son..." The sergeant had trailed off, unable to finish his sentence. He didn't have to finish, but Orochimaru did it in his mind: _your son is among them, and so is young Matsuda like his brother._

In other words, there wasn't much time left before _Hanaru_ could end up in those ranks. Which was why he spent that afternoon coming up with a plan before he went back home to her and the boys. And as soon as he had Kabuto alone, he told the younger man everything...even his suspicions.

"So it IS him," Kabuto hissed, then corrected himself. "Or might be. But it all points to him..."

"Exactly. So the sergeant and I have plans to go to his house. The greater the odds, the better - and I haven't forgotten those ruffians under his thumb," Orochimaru added with a sly lick of the lips. Though in his mind, he knew he could not underestimate them because of their numbers against the three of them. It could mean a shootout if it came to that.

When evening was falling, he and the sergeant were on their way to the Hashimoto Estate to settle this madness once and for all. Thus he entrusted Kabuto to watch over Hanaru and her son. _But dark magic like that can draw you even halfway around the world._ Just like it did to Manami that terrible night. He felt his lip curl as he thought of how the man could do this to her, as means to keep her under his thumb and not rebel - which meant why he chose to turn all fourteen into slaves.

 _For the mines, why else? That would explain everything._

This was his theory, and he wasn't afraid to speak his mind, because he was armed beneath his jacket: Hideo Hashimoto was behind everything. Behind what happened to Itachi Uchiha and the other young men, to Manami. For his blasted mines and free labor rather than going through all the trouble of hiring the living who could only form unions, based on what happened down there many years ago.

"It does make sense, Orochimaru," Sano said gravely, though his eyes were misted as he thought of his own son in this position. "And to imagine that Mrs. Uchiha could become one of them..." He stopped himself from finishing that sentence, which the doctor was pleased with. "So, what do you wish us to do while you speak to him?"

It was simple: he and Chiba wait outside, while _he_ managed to open a window from inside to let them listen in and then come if something went awry. That proved without error as the sergeant knew which one, given he'd been at the bailiff's manor before. "As soon as you are in, make sure to unlock it from inside before you meet the master of the house," Sano insisted, and Orochimaru left them both outside to walk up the flora-lined pathway, where there were lights inside. _Ah, good, someone is in. I wouldn't be surprised if one of those hooligans answer..._

And just like that, indeed one of them did, and it was that dark-haired leader who threatened Hanaru. "What can I do for you?" he asked unpleasantly, clearly recognizing him. Orochimaru forced a smile.

"Well, young man, we met before," he said as he walked inside, past the fool, "under somewhat disturbing circumstances. However, I don't hold it against you." He took in the surroundings which bordered on tradition combined with some modern elements, fancying this side of the man his daughter married but scantly spoke of other than "great love more than anything else". "Is Mr. Hashimoto in?"

"He's in, but he's busy."

Perfect. "Good, then you can tell him I want to see him. I happen to be a busy man myself, yet I made the time to come all the way out here to talk to him, so you can do the honor of telling him to come out."

The man scowled at him but said nothing, and did exactly as he asked. This was Orochimaru's time to make the move, having seen the window Sergeant Sano spoke of, and rushed over to unlock it and open it ajar enough to hiss out to the two men that he got it. He then backed away to step back to where he was before, waiting and taking a few breaths to calm down so he didn't appear suspicious.

"Well?"

The voice who called out to him was loud and rude, demanding without too many words as to why he was interrupted from "important work" to converse with an uninvited guest. "Yes, thank you," Orochimaru answered kindly, disguising disgust at the sight of the man who married Manami and was hiding his true self far too well. _But I can't blame myself for not seeing anything sooner, or bothering to look into his background._

Hashimoto narrowed his eyes. "Are you making fun of me, Orochimaru?" he asked.

"No, I'm not being funny. Just trying to remember my manners, and I wish I could say the same to you. It's a shame we never had to...talk to get to know each other," Orochimaru said, dropping the pretenses and showing the ice. "I understand you were busy, so I 'apologize' for interrupting. As to why I am here - I'd rather privately discuss this, so would you please dismiss your hand man?" He glared at the other until his master ordered him to leave, before returning his attention to the 'guest'. "Now, this is about Manami Yakushi - my daughter, your _wife_ whose funeral you never attended - young Matsuda, even Hanaru Uchiha..." He felt his lip curl upwards while the other continued to eye him stoically.

"...and many others who are supposed to be at rest now - in their _graves_. You wouldn't by any chance know anything of that, would you, Hideo, my boy?"

"How should I know?" That abrupt turn away and making head for the cabinet for a glass of alcohol was enough to make him loosen his tongue even further.

"Well, I don't know how, but you DO know. I happen to have suspicions of my own based on my own experiences. I have heard enough talk around town which is vague for the most part. Am I right in that you spent the better part of your life abroad, in the Caribbean...in _Haiti?_ And that while you were there, you happened upon something very interesting and likewise forbidden which solved the answer to your issue with the mines your father had no choice but to shut down due to miners' deaths and others' protests?" he challenged, which earned a shattering of glass after the drink was downed.

"Get...out," Hashimoto snarled, face red as a tomato as he knew he was being caught. "Or I'll call the others to finish you off."

No doubt those words had merit, so Orochimaru had no choice but to respect the demand. Bitterly and sarcastically, he bade the man good night.

 _Time to strike._

But as soon as he was outside, hiding with the sergeant and senior officer, of course Sano was uneasy perhaps more than Chiba. "That was quite too far, sir, but he didn't deny it either."

"Agreed," the senior officer responded, trying his hardest not to flinch. Sighing, Orochimaru returned his attention to the house, and for some time, they waited until they saw the lights go out. Hashimoto must have gone back inside to attend to whatever business it was, and he suspected it was wherever the mines were led from this place. Given the distance wasn't so great, there had to be a secret passageway or something.

He went up first, going through the window, followed by the sergeant and then the senior officer. The window was left unlocked but closed so that it wouldn't appear out of the ordinary and that HE would be caught. But whatever evidence had to be inside this house...

...and after a few times of ducking and hiding, they heard someone coming, and peeked out from behind a wall to see the man of the house himself coming down the stairs and going through an archway, which was their cue. They hid for another while, seeing light on again, and they could not go inside as long as Hashimoto was inside, and any of those dogs could be present or just waiting to strike. That was for the policemen to draw out their arms - pleasing Orochimaru they had modernized weapons in hand - and they went in together.

But if all three of them were killed, hope was lost. Which was what they could NOT afford.

The door was opened, so Orochimaru's sensitive ears heard the words that were being spoken - or rather, _chanted_.

 _"Chi wa chikaradesu...Chi wa chikaradesu..."_

 _"Blood is the power"...that's what he is saying._

And then this was heard: "Come to me."

His blood turned to ice immediately. He couldn't speak it aloud to his companions, but he hoped their thoughts matched his: _he's calling to her...oh, God, Hanaru!_

But if they moved soon, they might be able to save her, and he hoped Kabuto did as he instructed. And chance came when the light went out.

After some time of searching, Orochimaru was perusing through the books - _oh, you sly fox, you do have the books which give away enough_ \- when Officer Chiba announced quietly but clearly that he found something beneath the desk. He'd been opening drawers and found the middle one in the left couldn't be pried...until he accidentally pressed a button on the inside which let it pop out, and that was when they were greeted with a simple but bone-chilling sight.

 _Fourteen of them...fourteen coffin-shaped creations held by hand._

And inside: dolls made of gray clay, the eyes and mouths poked in by finger pads, finished with sticks for arms and legs. All appeared to be male, but the fourteenth one was broken beyond repair. If he could have it identified with his personal equipment, he would know that one was _Itachi's._

Because when he recognized the bright red but dried substance on each human figurine, he would know it was _blood_ , and everything was confirmed.

Hashimoto was controlling the undead via the use of dolls - and with their individual _blood._ Mortified, Sergeant Sano couldn't find any words to speak, but then he finally croaked, "My God, so it's true!"

 _Yes, we have to get out of here, and control those poor souls so they turn on their master. Then we can set them free._

~o~

 _What had...what had happened?_

Everything was such a haze. She recalled sitting on the mat with her son, meditating as they always did, and then something fuzzy came over her head. And then Kabuto left her to go get water, while Ren said nature was calling, and then she was left alone - until something spoke to her which wasn't present as her men had been.

 _"Come to me."_

Someone was calling her, and her body must have been moving on its own, for the next thing she knew, she was standing on the grounds of the Hashimoto mines - and before her was the form of Toshio Matsuda, who was gray and in a worn robe, just like she recalled seeing her supposedly dead husband, but he said nothing as he blankly looked her over without moving his eyes.

 _He's...he's dead._

But Hanaru had no will to speak even though internally she was frightened, just as her body gave in after becoming aware of its long walk. Was she going to die the same way Manami had? She had no will to fight, even though she should have. She thought of her little boy who was no doubt wondering where she was, and Kabuto who was going to be looking for her as soon as he saw she was missing.

After that, her mind blurred with her vision, and she had no idea what happened next other than falling forward.

The burning crystal had all but faded from her body's sensations.

Someone had picked her up and carried her - _must have been HIM_ \- for she found she lay down on a great slab of stone, and she was held in place by hemp rope, at her wrists and ankles.

The face of Hideo Hashimoto loomed over her, calm and caring, but something that made her heart pump with warning bells...except she couldn't break free from the control he had over her.

Her hand was taken into his, as a silent message that her fate was in his hands. And his face was near hers enough for what seemed like a...

 **"White Zombie" starring Bela Lugosi is a masterful, atmospheric classic which depicts zombies being the traditional sense explained throughout this story - and "Plague of the Zombies" pays homage. :D**

 **The end is near, so stay tuned and please review since I got nothing so far except one. :(**


	11. Breaking the Curse

**Been difficult trying to think of how to resolve things in here, such as the ins-outs of voodoo control, since it's nothing solid and technical like our technology which is a no-brainer to understand (if you're a true genius lol).**

Chapter Eleven

Breaking the Curse

Hanaru had been acting...strange that evening. First it was during the meditation time when he heard her utter those odd words: _Chi wa chikaradesu._

He'd frowned; why would she say that out of the blue, and where did they come from?

She then fell backwards, losing her balance, and both he and her boy jumped from their places to help her sit back up. "Hanaru, what's the matter?" Kabuto demanded, worried to his core that it had to be something else...

"I'm fine." The answer was forced out. "I just...need some water."

"Mum!" Ren protested, going to her side and holding onto her, staying there even as Kabuto left them to rush to the kitchen, sure the boy wouldn't let his mother leave his sights, but oh, how the young doctor was wrong. He got the glass, filled close to the rim, all the while having that shivering feeling up his spine - and when he got back, Hanaru was gone, and so was Ren.

"HANARU!" he shouted, seeing her nowhere in the house, at the same time her son was coming back into the hallway. He had apparently left her for the bathroom and came back, but now he looked up at his godfather with wide eyes after hearing the yell.

"Where's my mum?" the boy asked.

There was no time to answer. Kabuto set down the glass on the nearest table he could find and then took Ren's small wrist into his. "Your mom is in danger. We have to go to her, but you have to stay in the car at all times," he ordered, picking the small boy up and running out the door of the house for Hanaru's car, but he rushed back in after remembering the keys were inside.

 _She must have gone to the mines. That's where it all is going..._

He didn't see Hanaru on the way, which meant she must have moved fast under control - _that cut on her finger which ties it all in, and she didn't even display the signs besides her eyes. Which tricked us into believing it was an ordinary fever without a name_ \- and was already at the mines. He had to get in somehow and fast.

When he arrived, he screeched to a halt and then grabbed his gun which was loaded on the passenger seat. "Ren, remember what I said. Stay inside and never get out for anything!" The child nodded and held onto himself, didn't protest when the doors were all locked, but he made sure to leave the air conditioning on, and that was the window where he was lowered a little bit. He wasn't going to leave the boy to suffocate to death; he could have left him at the house, but anything could have happened to him in these days.

But then the child's eyes widened as he looked at something past his godfather, shrieking and ducking below his window. Putting his hand on his gun, Kabuto unlocked the safety and whipped his body around, aiming at whoever was there - and he felt himself have an out-of-body experience when his eyes locked with depthless black eyes set in a face that he came face to face with.

"Oh, God, it's you...Itachi."

Blank-faced, gray-skinned and rotten to the point a few parts cracked off to show the bone beneath - particularly at the cheeks and the forehead as well as the chin - he really looked too much like Manami, and two people he loved in this state made his heart break, but how and why did _Itachi_ finally show up at all times?! Unless he was here to - no, he couldn't say that Hashimoto sent his deceased friend to kill him and the child in the vehicle, _his own son,_ because Orochimaru believed Itachi had broken free or had been released without the master's knowledge. Thus he wandered free first in Konoha and now here...

The zombie that was his precious woman's husband said nothing, nor did he blink. "I don't have time for this, but if you understand me, take me to where your wife is - the mother of your child!" Kabuto pleaded, the hand holding his handgun shaking but not losing his hold.

Finally he got a response, and it started first with a tilt of the head downward, locking a glance with his own son who was peeking out from his hiding place but staying where he was. Kabuto looked halfway back, seeing no trace of fear in the boy who saw his dead-yet-alive father. If only there was time for anymore, because now he was being led by the walking shell of the man who died in front of all their eyes on the battlefield only to end up like this. His wife and son, his brother and all their friends suffered, himself included...

... _and now she is in mortal danger if I don't hurry._

Itachi walked with a jerking speed ahead, and Kabuto ran with him, putting the safety back on for now, all the while seeing the mill's wheel turning and nothing else - not even a sign of those dogs who obeyed their master or any of the enslaved zombies - and finally they stopped when they arrived at an elevator beneath that wheel. _Going downstairs to what is going on._

Just going down this damned thing and also with Itachi who was slower than him and had no means to communicate with him other than with hand gestures and turns of the head - all of which wasn't his fault, and all the more reason he willed to find Orochimaru and demand a way to break him and the others free from this fate - was an adventure he wished was over, and as soon as it touched the bottom, he found himself electroshocked throughout every part of his body as he saw the activity going on before his eyes, beyond the metal wire that separated him and his dead friend from the gruesome and hateful image.

There were workers towing the carts along the mine rails, others hammering spikes into the grounds, and the rest were lifting boxes to take in and out. This answered the suspicions, except when you looked at the "miners" closely, you would see that they were not ordinary people, and Kabuto was livid to his bones. He reached for his gun that he kept in his pocket.

All those zombies in shrouds...they were all his patients. Orochimaru had been right. All these young men who died because of a damned coverup...and now they were suffering a fate worse than death and endured being a blank slate for someone else.

There was also Jurou Matsuda himself, alive and yet not alive, but his brother was yet to be seen.

He turned back behind him to see Itachi "glaring" ahead, but could say nothing.

What he was witnessing made sense, if Hashimoto wanted the living dead rather than the true living to maintain his mines, given these walking corpses didn't require food, drink or even rest - and couldn't refuse coming down here like the other miners years prior. _Cheap means to make money. Damn you, Hashimoto._

The door opened for him because Itachi pressed a button to his side. He rushed through the scene, seeing as the undead laborers took no notice of him, and he followed the sound of the drums north. He climbed small, rocky pathways and found himself through a cavern where he saw Caribbean natives banging on tribal drums, several jungle masks and other charms hung about - and finally the ceremony which hadn't even reached the conclusion. All four of the men who threatened Hanaru, intimidated the villagers they passed by, were present...and served the one who didn't have the mask this time but still wore the cloak.

The one who had the dagger in his hand over the one he loved, who was tied down to the rock slab and in distress, was none other than the one Kabuto aimed the shot for - but he turned it upwards with intention of causing a diversion so he could get her out of there.

 _Makes me feel like the hero of the eighties in American culture._

The rocks that came down caused the men to scatter about, including the man behind all of this. He would no longer call Hashimoto his brother-in-law with what he did to his sister, to Itachi, to the others in Otogakure, and what he almost would have done to Hanaru.

Kabuto cursed at himself for not thinking to bring a knife, but then he saw Itachi go up to where his wife was still tied down, and he amazed Kabuto by pulling the ropes cleanly off with his bare hands and then picking her up into both arms. Still in shock, Hanaru complied and wrapped her arms around his neck. Then she shouted at him, Kabuto, to look out.

He jerked around to see the dark-haired leader of the underlings jump up, and on instinct, he pulled the trigger and wound up shooting him in the shoulder which would end up going the wrong way; he would die of blood loss eventually. _Oh, God, I really killed someone...but he deserved it._

The others, including Hashimoto himself, were just getting up, but they were all frozen in shock as they saw something coming their way. "Kabuto, they're coming in!" Hanaru exclaimed, and he saw what she was talking about. He quickly reached for the extra bullets to reload as fast as he could, though he doubted it would do much good. All the zombies had stopped working, but how? Their master could have sent a message or something, and he had no idea how he was going to fight back since it was him against the rest of them; he heard Hashimoto shouting at them to get the intruder who was taking away the girl...

...but strangely, none of them paid attention to Kabuto, Hanaru, or even the one who rebelled. Instead, they made way right for the four men who were arming themselves with shovels and picks, as well as whips. Now Kabuto realized what was happening.

 _They're going for the one controlling them._

~o~

There was no time to read and try to figure out what to do, for the objects controlling the living dead were in front of them, and the book found had a marker down on the page which shouldn't have been necessary if its owner knew what to say and do by now.

Before he did anything, he had to destroy the one that had been intended for HER. Just pray she hadn't had physical harm.

 _Chi wa chikaradesu -_ you say those words up to six times and then command whatever you wanted of the one under the influence. That was what the text said, so this was up to him to take it from here. It was now or never. Orochimaru began to chant the rites and then spoke clearly:

"Attack the ones who will sacrifice the woman, but don't kill any of them."

 _Perhaps those fools should receive equal justice as much as their leader, given they act like wild beasts rather than human beings. Their master orders, they dance._

He could only hope that it worked, and that it was on the right people. Sergeant Sano watched him with apprehension the entire time, the sweat clearly shining on his forehead. And then Senior Officer Chiba announced in a hushed voice that he found something - and it happened to be that there was an exotic but ghastly mask on the wall that he had elevated - out of pure curiosity - only to open the wall it was hanging onto, showing a passageway that led downstairs to the lowest levels. There could be heard the sounds of rocks clanging, telling the men there was mining activity, closer than expected...

...and there was also the sound of clamoring, telling him that the spell must have worked.

Quickly, Orochimaru picked up the book while the sergeant got to work on gathering the dolls in their little caskets in a couple armfuls while Chiba took the rest. The trio rushed downstairs, only to run into a mass hysteria that was the undead surrounding the four men, but the fifth was laying dead on the ground from a gunshot wound.

And there was Kabuto, with Hanaru unharmed - and in the arms of her _husband_ , who looked as she described along with the others.

"My God, my son," Sano managed, seeing one of them, and he looked on the verge of collapsing off his legs if his senior officer hadn't been there. He even dropped a few of the dolls in his hold...and a few of them broke into pieces: one doll lost its head, another broke in half, and the rest remained intact.

Then the result was this: two of the zombies - the Matsuda brothers - focused their attentions on two of the underlings rather than the one who was controlling them. And all of Orochimaru as well as the others were frozen in their places as they watched what happened: two of the men's necks were broken, and their bodies were dropped carelessly to the ground.

If breaking the dolls was the answer to setting them free to be on the loose like Itachi, then it wasn't the final answer. What he had to do now was find a spell in the book in which the dead would leave their earthly remains and return to the afterlife...including Hanaru's husband.

But then he remembered what happened that night with Manami. Removing the head and then giving her absolution with the priest's help had done the job, so the holy man was going to be needed once more. Orochimaru summoned up his willpower to chant the words that brought all the automatons still under control to attention. All stood in place like soldiers at attention, while Hashimoto and his last man shouted and tried to break free only to fail miserably.

"All of you remain at attention, and restrain the prisoners if they try to escape. Itachi, Kabuto -" He closed the book and tucked it beneath his arm. "- get Hanaru out of here."

~o~

The nightmare was finally over.

What happened, you wanted to know? Justice was served as it should be. _And there was no choice but to finally tell the village the truth - and present the evidence that was the voodoo dolls of their loved ones._

But that meant the bailiff and his remaining man were locked in the cell for the night, and the zombies who weren't under control any longer were placed in Dr. Yakushi's house, and so were the others who were still under the influence, but for Hanaru, it scared her no matter the stone around her neck warming and reassuring her enough that everything was going to be fine now, since she should know Orochimaru well enough that he wasn't going to be like that man who used his charm to get what he wanted and also hid WHAT he really was.

It broke her heart to see Itachi and the others the way they were, kept from a peaceful rest, but that was going to change soon. Because the snake-like man was working to find a way in the book he recovered from the Hashimoto Estate. Her son, surprisingly, didn't seem scared of the zombies, but when he tried talking to his father only to get nothing, Ren went to her in tears and threw himself on her.

All the more reason she wished Orochimaru would hurry.

As for the Matsuda brothers, she feared that one of them would end up strangling her or her son like Jurou did to Manami, but nothing happened except just wandering listlessly and would stand there keeping guard.

 _Those mines are going to once again fall into decay, because its owner is gonna face proper justice. Unless someone new is going to have to take Hashimoto's place._

But that was an issue the village wanted to solve on its own, and that was when someone she knew too well crossed her mind, which she planned to bring attention to as soon as she and her men returned home. That person happened to be her brother, none other. Leave the rest of the details to him but break enough of the story to him without making him think his own sister was crazy.

She thought they'd never do it, but she and Ren managed to get to sleep sometime during the late night - without having nightmares, miraculously - and the last thing she remembered was Itachi sitting before the bed, watching without a change in expression...but she saw the sadness in those emotionless irises, and who knew what was going on in his head. Same with the other two as well as the rest who simply stood at attention - she could only hope that Orochimaru released them from this terrible fate. That would make them all happy.

In the morning, mother and son were awakened and informed by a tiredly smiling Kabuto that everything was taken care of, and that they didn't have to know all the details: the dead were at peace now, and the priest absolved them - though they did have Itachi to finally take home and give a proper burial. "I thought of a good excuse, too. Someone took him back for twisted purposes, but we found the body recently during your visit."

That was a good start, but he hadn't been able to come up with anything else. That meant they would have to during the trip back home. "Are you going back with us, Uncle Kabuto?" Ren asked, biting his bottom lip.

Kabuto sighed. He was conflicted because these people wanted him to find out what was behind the deaths of their youth. They counted on him, so he owed them something. And that involved the man who destroyed so many lives - including theirs. She wanted Hideo Hashimoto to suffer the way he deserved, but she didn't want anything to do with this. She wanted to just get her son back home.

Luckily, Sakura back home knew people who could come and pick the body up, and Sergeant Sano informed Hanaru that the letter carriers would get one out to her brother-in-law's wife in no time. She left it to Orochimaru who explained what he could.

 _Ren is NOT going to see anymore than he already has._

That included seeing his father, when outside help arrived in Oto from Konoha. Hanaru thought to unzip the bag over her dead husband's face one last time, quietly whispering good bye since she was deprived of that chance before, and then closed the black plastic again for him to be taken away into the traveling ambulance. A week had gone by since everything that happened, so she and Ren were finally returning.

What happened to Hashimoto and his last man: when the people of the village awoke, the word got out that Orochimaru and Kabuto had to stand with the sergeant and inform them all what happened. Also, the veteran physician presented the voodoo dolls still covered in blood, and that the people were better off not seeing their loved ones as they had been before, for the dead were finally resting in their graves. The bailiff who had been oh so popular had used all of them, exploited them, and used a cheap way to get his father's old silver mine up - that meant using black magic, the book which was also presented along with the figures, which outraged and devastated the Oto villagers who demanded justice for the villain himself.

The jury's decision, at the hands of the people: imprisonment until he died, and as for the last of his "young blood" gang, the idiot was released but made to live like the rest of the people. _Now, Hashimoto got a fate worse than death._

But his lackey was eventually killed by the lynch mob that formed during the trial.

Hanaru should have stayed out of this, but she said to the people that she was going to try to talk to someone she knew and help get this village back on its feet. No promises, but she could only try. Hadn't been easy to convince these scarred older people and the smaller numbered young generation, nor had Orochimaru and Kabuto stood by when they both said she should have kept quiet, but this was her way of trying to help all of them.

So, her men and the sergeant were hailed as heroes for saving the rest of them, though for public protection, they had to NOT use "voodoo" and say it was just an unknown fever from Ame without a name, as much as Kabuto hated to admit it. And it was all on the condition that he, Hanaru, her son, as well as Orochimaru leave and go back home to Konoha because outsiders had done enough to them as it was. But they did owe them gratitude for saving who was left as well as the souls of their loved ones.

 _Just hope they get another good doctor to help them, but where?_ That was for Oto to decide, and they insisted Kabuto return to where he really belonged, rather than being in a small village where he lost his sister.

For the four of them, they had Manami's death to mourn and Itachi to bury where he deserved to be, and this time it was small, for cremation was involved. Their brothers and their friends were present, no one public this time, and she put the urn on the fireplace mantle at their house.

She finally found it in herself to tell Naruto what happened, but left out the voodoo aspects, and said this might be an opportunity for him to either have the town fixed up or leave it to someone he trusted, like Hinata's cousin Neji since they both worked real estate. Her brother's eyes lit up and enthusiastically considered it.

Kabuto moved back in with her and Ren, and it was like a void was starting to be filled in. He started working again at Konoha General.

Orochimaru hadn't thought to return to studying dark magic and the likes, at least not until after his retirement came about in the fall that came. There was still so much time in his life left for anything else, and that meant he was going to be with them when a certain "happy" event came just before the winter season began.

Sasuke and Sakura finally got married, and what they had of Itachi present: his photograph as well as other members and events of their families throughout, because a wedding was all about family.

Besides sharing that special day, there was a certain someone there who asked her if she would like to head on a winter getaway with him up in the mountains, leave Ren with her brother and his family; Sarada was going to spend it with them, too, while her parents went to Hokkaido for their honeymoon.

Hanaru thought she would never remarry again, since she made it clear no one would replace her man, and she also had to be careful with who to have around her son...but Kabuto was the one in front of her. He was such a great friend, he was adored by her and Itachi's boy, except she needed more time to figure out if she really had romantic feelings for him after everything they went through together.

The post-Christmas vacation was a great chance to explore it with Kabuto, then really start over anew.

The crystal around her neck was aflame, which meant the answer was obviously going to be positive.

 **The movie ended on a doomsday note, in which the zombies and their master were purified in the mines which collapsed in a fire that was set to the undead (their doll figures caught fire in a struggle), and our heroes got away unscathed, though while I was glad good triumphed over evil, I wished there was a form of closure for those who lost their loved ones, and I felt the sergeant had a part to play in the climax.**

 **So I complete this in time before Christmas. Hope you enjoyed this chilling story and its final chapter, no sequel in making, so please give feedback. :D**


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